Settling Down
by Cut Throat 666
Summary: Freddy discovers he's a daddy and now he must try to give his daughter the love and support he never had. Will he find true happiness along the way and will his friends be supportive of him?
1. Reading of the Will

-1Chapter 1

The Reading of the Will

Mystique came home one day in a very perturbed mood and found all of the Brother Hood laying around doing nothing as usual. Looking around, she saw that the house was still a wreck and a stack of bills that were as tall as her knee. This was the last straw.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" she grabbed one of the house hold chairs and chucked it across the room. All the of the Brother Hood boys bolted to areas of protection in case she decided to throw something bigger. "I can't take it anymore! You boys are nothing but immature slobs that don't anything to help out one bit!"

"Hey, we help out!" Lance called from behind the sofa, "We fight those X-Geeks for you all the time."

"But do you ever win? No! You loose every single time and then come home and destroy my house! You do more damage here than you do on the battlefield."

"So, what do you want us to do about it?" asked Pietro, who poked his head out from the closet.

"Simple. I want all of you to start going out and getting jobs! I won't supply the lot of you with anymore money for food and necessities, until I see you bring in some cash and contribute. Do you got that!"

"A job! Are you crazy! Who in their right minds are gonna hire someone like me?" cried Todd.

"You could always try the garbage collectors. They're always looking for somebody who doesn't mind wallowing around in filth."

"Hey!"

"I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks, when I get back you all had better have some form of a job. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am." they all said in unison.

"But, what if we're not able to get a job?" Freddy asked.

"Then I hope you like living on the cold hard streets."

"Whoa! You'd really throw us out on the streets?"

"Yes, Lance. I would. Now, get cracking and finding a job!"

For the next few weeks, while Mystique was away, the Brother Hood boys went out and found jobs. Pietro had no trouble at all finding a job, he became a part time fashion consultant at the Bayville Mall. Lance found a full time job working as an auto mechanic, since he didn't have to worry about attending school it all worked out well for him. Todd and Freddy had a harder time finding jobs. They tried fast food restaurants, but they got kicked out for sanitary issues and over eating the products. Eventually Todd settled for the garbage collectors job and didn't mind it at all. He found that the people he worked with respected him more, no one seemed to mind that he stunk, and there was a wide variety of bugs he could eat. Freddy still had a harder time finding a job, since he didn't work well with others, except his friends, but he eventually found one working as a bouncer for a club. Though he wasn't 21, they allowed him to work for them, because he managed to get rid of their most annoying customers.

By the time Mystique came back, she was very surprised and pleased to see that her young charges were standing in the door way holding up cold hard cash for her to collect as back pay rent.

"Very good, boys. For once you actually did something right." she said as she walked by counting all of the money. "Here. You can keep half of what you made. Just give me half of your pay checks whenever you get paid from now on. This house isn't exactly cheap, but I can be reasonable. Oh, and Freddy."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"A letter came for you. It looks urgent." she handed him a big yellow envelope.

Freddy opened it and scanned the letter. His mouth dropped in horror.

"What is it, Freddy?" Todd asked.

"It's a letter from back home… A friend of mine just past away." he walked over into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"You had friends back in Texas?" Pietro asked, trying not to sound mean.

"Only one. A woman named Clarice." he stared at the papers some more, "She was the only woman who was nice to me."

"Wow…" Pietro sat down next to Freddy, he opened his mouth to speak, but something fell out of the envelope and caught his eye. "Hey, Freddy, what's this?" he picked it up and read it. "Looks like she left you something."

Freddy grabbed the paper and scanned, "Huh, that's weird. Clarice really didn't own anything. Maybe she hit the lottery and won something for once."

"It says here that you've got till next week to pick it up or else it will be given to someone else."

Freddy looked up at Mystique, "Uh… Mystique, I hate to ask this, but-"

"Don't worry about, Freddy." she counts out the money in her hand and hands some to him, "I know what it's like to loose a friend. Go ahead and buy yourself a round trip ticket, but make sure you call in at your work and tell them why you won't be in."

"Thanks, Mystique." he got up and walked over to the phone, "I'll tell them right now."

Lance sat down on the couch next to Pietro, while Todd hopped over to Freddy's side.

"What do you think she left ya, Freddy?" he asked.

"I don't know, Todd. Clarice wasn't materialistic and didn't have much since I last saw her."

"When was the last time you saw her?"

Just then Freddy motioned Todd to be silent, so he could speak to his boss on the other end. After he was told that it would be okay, he hung up the phone, and when directly upstairs to pack. Forgetting to answer Todd's question entirely.

Todd was about to follow him, but Mystique advised him not to. Freddy needed some peace to himself and some time to greave. Which was exactly what Freddy wanted.

Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, Mystique knocked on Freddy's door.

"Who is it?"

"Mystique. May I come in?"

"Yeah."

Mystique opened the door and walked in holding an extra large pizza with mozzarella sticks, "I thought that you might be hungry."

"Thanks, Mystique." he sat up, so that she could have a place to sit.

She sat down beside him and opened the box for him, "How close were you and Clarice?"

"It's kinda weird. We were close, but not close at all."

"What do you mean?"

Freddy sighed, "I don't know how to explain it… Clarice was the most beautiful woman back at the truck rallies. All the guys wanted her, even I did, but I was too shy to ask her out."

"How old was she?"

"She was 35."

"And how old were you?"

"16."

"Teenage crush. I remember those days."

"Yeah, well… I became more than a crush."

"An obsession then?"

"Kinda, but Clarice liked me because I didn't treat her like more of the men did. They drooled all over her and tried to get into her pants, but I didn't. Mainly cause I didn't want to do anything to hurt her or embarrass the hell outta me." he paused to take a bite of the pizza, "And because I didn't treat her like the other guys did, she liked me, and became friends with me. But since her manager made her work like a dog, we really didn't get to spend that much time with one another. That and she had an abusive boyfriend to deal with."

"Did you do anything about it?"

"Yeah… I knocked her boyfriend through the wall, scared him a lot, but it mainly scared her. After that, she completely avoided me all together and continued living the way she did. I didn't push her or try to make her talk to me, I knew that she was scared, and I didn't want to make things worse for her."

"Sounds like she missed out on having the best friend she could of ever had."

"You really think so, Mystique?"

"When you aren't trying to prove anything or force things to go your way, you really are a nice person Freddy. Toad seems to like you most out of everyone else. You're actually the only person here that treats him like an equal. And from the sounds of that letter, Clarice realized what she lost when it was too late."

Freddy looked down at the pizza, struggling to hide his tears, "I just wish… I just wish I could have done something. Something to-"

"I know Freddy. But you did what you thought was best. Here. Eat the rest of this and get some sleep. Tomorrow I will take you to the airport early in the morning and see you off."

"Thanks, Mystique."

After she left, Freddy finished the rest of the pizza, and tried his best to go to sleep. Sleep for him didn't come around until 5 a.m. and he had to get up 2 hours later. By the time 7 a.m. came around he was dragging himself out of bed, running downstairs with his luggage in his hands, and in the limo that Mystique had waiting for them. She knew how he slept so she had breakfast already on the go.

They reached the airport in an hour, paid for the tickets, and headed towards the terminals.

"Are you coming with me, Mystique?"

"No. I'm afraid not. I have other business to attend to, but I will be available if you need anything." she hands him her cell phone, "I have another cell phone, so if you need anything don't hesitate to ask."

"Okay."

"Take care, Freddy."

Freddy got onto his plane and flew out to Texas. The flight went smooth and to his surprise there was someone waiting at the airport for him. It was one of his former co-workers, as butch lady named Burnin' Betty.

"Freddy!" she walked up to him with open arms, "Good to see ya. I was beginin' to think that you weren't gonna show."

He gave her a hug, "How did you know that I was coming down?"

"You're new guardian gave us a call and said that you'd be on the next flight out. Poor ole Clarice, I still can't believe that she's gone past away."

"How'd she die?"

"Ah, it was awful, Freddy. Poor woman's been sick since before you left. I think they said that she had a long term cancer since she was 8. It was in recession for so long and then all of the sudden it hit her like a bat outta hell."

"Have they started the funeral yet?"

"Yeah. Sorry, buddy, but you know how them bodies don't last long after ya die."

"Don't remind me." Freddy grimaced as he recalled the death of him mother and father, "Do you have any idea what Clarice left for me?"

"Not really. Anyways, we better get ya to that place where they read off the wills and stuff before they give yours away."

They left the airport and headed straight for their destination. By the time that they got there, it was already 3 in the after noon.

"Here we are." said Burnin' Betty.

"Jesus! Can this place be any bigger!"

"Don't let the size intimidate ya, Freddy. You know that all of these fancy working places with the big buildings are only showin' off just to compensate for something." she chuckled.

They went inside and met up with the man with whom they were to speak with about Clarice's will.

"Hello." he said, extending a hand of friendship out to Freddy, "I am Mr. Henry Lydecker. You must be Fredrick Dukes."

Freddy shook his hand in return, "Y-Yeah. How did you know-"

Lydecker laughed, "That that was your name? Well, it's not all that hard seeing that you were the only person that she left anything to. Clarice wasn't that particularly close to anyone, except you it appears. Anyways, let's get on with this will reading. Shall we?" he pulled out the papers and read, "To Fredrick Dukes, my one and only true friend that I have ever had in my entire life. To you, I leave the most priceless treasure that I have… My daughter Tiffany."

"What the! Why would she!"

Lydecker held up his hand, "There's more." he continued the reading, "Tiffany is your daughter too. I'm positive because my boyfriend is completely sterile and I cheated on him with you. I have never had sex with anyone else but you and my boyfriend. If you look at our little Tiffany, you'll see that she strongly resembles you and she'll know you right off bat, because I constantly showed her pictures of you and said, 'Look, there's daddy.' Please, don't be mad that I didn't tell that I was pregnant with your child. I knew that you were still a young boy that needed to live your life to the fullest, until you were ready to settle down. I didn't want to take your life away. I don't have any other living relatives, at least none that claim me, and I didn't want to risk her being sent to an abusive home where she might be molested or worse. I know that you will be a good father to her Freddy. You always had a way with kids. I never got around to telling you thank you for not telling anyone about our secret relationship, even though my boyfriend found out he didn't tell anyone either. I guess a stud like him didn't want to humiliate himself by letting everyone know that the hottest woman in the derby shows found a heavy set teenage boy more appealing than him." Freddy chuckled at the last part, "I know you probably don't want to be responsible for child right now, but please, think about it. Spend some time with Tiffany before you decide. She needs her daddy. I need her daddy." Lydecker stopped there and put the will down and looked up at Freddy, "Well, that's it. What do you say, Mr. Dukes?"

Freddy clenched his fists and his teeth, fighting back the tears that wanted to explode, "Where's Tiffany at right now?"

Lydecker smiled, "Why she's here." he pressed a button on his intercom, "Susie, please bring Tiffany in now."

An elderly woman brought in a small little girl wearing a blue dress. Freddy looked at the little girl and saw that she still a baby, only walking. She was chubby, but cute, had big green eyes, and blonde hair that was tied up into pony tails on each side. In one hand she clutched a little plush dog that was blue too.

"Look, sweetie." said the elderly woman, "It's your daddy."

The little girl looked up at her father for the first time, staring at him hard for recognition, then smiled. She raised her arms up in the air and wobbled towards him.

"Dah Dah!" she squealed, latching onto his leg, hugging him, and smiling up at him with her big green eyes.

Freddy's heart melted, no one had ever hugged him with open arms before on first sight. Normally everyone was intimidated by his size. He picked her up and held her in his massive arms.

"Dah Dah!" she squealed again, trying her best to wrap her arms around his neck.

Freddy returned the hug, forgetting to hold back the tears, and cried.

"Are you alright, Mr. Dukes?"

"Yeah." wipes a tear from his eye, "Yeah, I'm alright."

"Well, you have about 3 days to make you decision, so-"

"I've already made my decision… I going to take my daughter back home with me and raise her."

Lydecker looked at him curiously, "You do know that taking care of a baby is harder than it looks, right?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I have a job to support us and I'm pretty sure that my legal guardian will help me out too."

"Ms Raven Darklome?" he flipped through a current file that he had of Freddy's living residents. "Yes, she is quite wealthy and suitable. Alright, then. If that's your final decision, Betty will take you back to Clarice's house, so that you can gather up Tiffany's things to take with you."

"Thanks."

"You're quite welcome. Oh, by the way. Since you're still a teenager, we're going to have to send a social worker up to see you at least once every 3 weeks just to make sure that the house is clean and safe for the child, and to monitor you to see if you're fit to continue being the child's father. Alright?"

"Okay."

"Good. Have a nice day you two."


	2. Dah Dah

Chapter 2

Dah Dah

Author's note: Sorry it's been so long everyone. I've had writers block hard core over this long period. But now I'm trying to get back into the game. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Later that evening, they all had arrived at Clarice's house.

Betty approached the house, unlocked it, and let them in.

To Freddy's surprise Clarice's home was practically empty, save for a few toys and clothes, and what was still lingering in the fridge. Freddy looked back at Betty, who already knew what he was going to ask her, "Nobody has been in here since poor Clarice died. This is all that she owned."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but... Didn't she make more than enough money to have more stuff than this?"

"You'd think that she would." she took off her hat and sat down on a beat up looking recliner, "Almost every cent that she made had gone to her ex to keep him quiet about what happened between you and her."

"But I thought-"

"What? That he was going to keep quiet just to keep his pride? No. He's one of those types that will sit quiet like for a while, until he can scheme up somethin' nasty and come out the winner. As you can tell." she motioned to the room, "At least he had the decency to let her keep some of her money so that she and her daughter could survive off of. Just... Not enough for Clarice to get the medical help that she needed."

Freddy's face darkened and he put Tiffany down so that she could play with her toys, "Where is the son of a bitch now?"

"Dead."

"What?" he blinked.

"Shortly after Clarice died, the jackass had the decency to do the world a big favor, and blow his brains out. Apparently he had a lot of gambling debts that just kept on gettin' bigger and bigger. Loan sharks were after his sorry ass and he couldn't hold down a job for the life of him, so... I guess he figured it'd be better to take the easy way out instead of dealing with his problem like a real man."

"Hmph Guess that saves me the trouble of beating him to a bloody pulp." he sat down on the small sofa next to her and watched Tiffany play by herself, "I'm gonna miss Clarice."

"We all are, Freddy. But at least she left you a big part of her to remember her by."

"I wish she would've told me about Tiffany sooner. Maybe then I could've-"

"There wasn't much you could've done to stop what was gonna happen, Freddy. The cancer was so bad that even the doctors said that it was only a matter of time." she reached over and gave Freddy's hand a gentle squeeze, "But there is somethin' you can do for her now. You can help her raise her only child to be the best person that she can be and be the daddy that she needs very much right now."

As she said these words, he couldn't help but look over at his daughter, who was playing happily by herself. He couldn't figure out what his feelings were right now, only that he felt a mixure of sadness, anger, and a little bit of awe. 'She has her mother's eyes.' he thought to himself, 'She looks so much like me it's almost scarey. I just hope for her sake she doesn't turn out as ugly as me when she gets older.'

Betty noticed that far away look in his eyes and could tell what he was thinking, "Now, don't start gettin' all depressed like, Freddy. Bein' depressed and self loathing all the time ain't healthy and does you no good in raising a kid."

"Sorry, Betty." he looked at her sheepishly, "I'll try hard not to. I'm... I'm just worried that I won't do a very good job at being a dad and that she'll... turn out like me."

"From what I've seen of you, Freddy, you ain't such a bad person to take after. Sure you have your rough spots here and there, but I've seen the way you behave when you have someone to actually care about. You can be a good person if you let yourself be, Freddy. You just have to want to be a good person and not want to be the monster that everybody thinks of you."

He was quiet for a long time, thinking hard on his friend's words. Eventually he got up and walked around the apartment. There really wasn't much, which would make the getting back home easier. He gathered up all of Tiffany's things: toys, clothes, bottles, sippy cups, and formula. Then he grabbed a couple of things of Clarice's that he thought Tiffany might like whenever she was old enough to have them: a music box, sterling silver locket with their picture in it, and the pictures that Clarice had hanging on the walls and in photo albums.

"I really can't do much with her clothes, so... You think you can give them to someone who needs them most?"

"Sure thing, Freddy. You want any of the furnature?"

"Nah. I got plenty of furnature back home. I pretty much got what I want, so I'll leave the rest up to you."

"Oh, before I forget!" she pulled out an envelope from inside her shirt, "Clarice left this for Tiffany. It's not much, but there's at least 500 bucks in there for a start on her college fund."

He took the money and pocketed it in his overhalls, "I'll make sure she gets a chance to go." he looked down at Tiffany, "You ready to go, kiddo?" she grabbed her stuffed dog and raised her arms up for him to carry her, he picked her up and craddled her in one arm, "I don't know one thing about raising a kid, but I'm going to at least try, and not give up. Fred Dukes never gives up. I can promise you that." he gave her a gentle squeeze and she squealed with joy. Betty looked at him with approval. They left the apartment and went to the hotel that he would be staying at for the night, until 6 a.m. the next morning for his flight. He researved another ticket for his daughter and bought a bigger suitcase, so that he could fit compact everything that that they owned into one.

For the rest of the night Freddy pretty much stayed in his room to get better aquianted with his child. He didn't know what exactly to feed her, so he tried a little bit of everything. Every kind of food that he ordered he made sure to share with her, from pizza, chinese, chips, hot dogs, burgers, fries, and her baby formula. She ate everything that he gave her and it amazed him at how much such a small thing could put away a lot of food.

"Wow! And I thought I ate a lot." he chuckled as he spoon fed her another mouthfull of fried rice, "I better not feed you like this all the time though. Wouldn't want ya to get as big as me. I guess I should invest in some child raising books, huh?"

"Dah Dah!" she pointed at her open mouth wanting more.

He looked at her belly before giving her another bite, "This is the last bite for you tonight, okay? Last thing I want to do is make my kid sick on my very first day of being a dad." he wiped her face clean and got her ready for a bath, "Let's see... How much water should I put in here?" he scratched his head as he tried to size her and the tub up. He turned the water on, felt the temperature, and then put her in, "Oops! That's a little bit much, ain't it?" the water was up to her chest, so he had to drain it some. She was a little scared, so she held onto his arm very tightly, "Hey, hey. It's okay, sweetie. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, okay? I'm right here." he stroked her head as he waited for the water to get down to waist level with her, then plugged it back up, "See. Nothing to worry about."

Tiffany let go of his arm and began splashing around in the water, giggling with joy.

Freddy chuckled as he sheilded himself with his arms from the splashing water, "Hey! You're suppose to be taking the bath, not me!" playfully he splashed her back, which delighted her. He'd let her play a little bit longer before he got down to actually washing her. "Holy, sh- uh..." he stopped himself from cussing in front of her, "Jesus! I didn't think babies were this slippery." he reached for a towl and pulled her out, drying her off, "Well, until I get those books, it's going to be a hands on experience trying to raise you."

"Eeeee Ha Ha Ha Dah Dah!" to his surprise she took off running naked out of the bathroom.

"Hey, you! Get back here." he took off in persuit, laughing along with her. She was a quick little thing and was able to ellude him, until she spotted the left overs, and went straight for them. "Got ya!" he snatched her up just before she could grab the burger. She squealed with a mixure of surprise and laughter as he sat her down on his lap and began tickling her, "Ha Ha Thought you could get away did ya? Take this and this and this! Ha Ha" he tickled her for a few more minutes, until he was sure that she had run out of energy, then changed her into her night clothes. He placed her on the spare bed that was in the room and tucked her in.

Tiffany reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Night, night, dah dah."

He handed her her dog and kissed her forhead, "Good night, sweetie." he climbed into his own bed, turned off the light, and went to sleep.


	3. Home Coming

Chapter 3

Home Coming

Early the next morning, Freddy and Tiffany were on an airplane heading back to Bayville, where his friends would be waiting for him. He hadn't told them about his newly discovered daughter nor that he was bringing her back with him. As he nervously pondered the endless possibilities how things could go wrong, Tiffany was already getting into mischiff. She began pulling out the magazines in the seat in front of her and wore the compimentary barf bag as a hat. After a while she got bored and started pestering the people around her. Freddy had turned his head around in time to catch his daughter's hand before she got a chance to rip the toupee off of a man that sat in the seat in front ot them.

"Dah Dah! I wan! I wan!" she screamed.

"No!" he said sternly, "It doesn't belong to you." he sat her back down in her seat, finally taking notice of the little mess she had made, "Oh, Tiffany!" he leaned down to pick everything up, slightly annoyed that she was laughing, "Please, behave, sweetie. We're almost home." To his dismay, Tiffany began kicking the seat of the gentleman in front of her, "Stop that!" he held her pushed her leg down and she looked at him with heart broken eyes, "Oh, no! Please, don't cry."

Her lower lip quivered and her eyes teared up, then she balled up her tiny fists, and held them to her eyes, "WAAAAAAAAAGH! Dah Dah mean!"

"Oh, God!" he put a hand over his face in embarrassment. "Please, stop crying, Tiffany? Daddy wasn't trying to be mean. I just wanted you to stop kicking that man's seat."

"Can't you control your own child?" asked a very annoyed woman across from them.

"Hey, listen, lady! This is my second day of being a dad. I'm doing the best I can without any experience, so just cut me some slack!" he picked up his daughter and held her close to him, patting her gently on the back.

"Hmph Maybe I should call social services, since you're inexperience may endanger that baby."

"What? No! Please, don't do that, ma'am? I'm all she's got."

The woman was about to say something, when suddenly she was thwacked in the arm by an elderly lady sitting behind her with a cane.

"Ow! What the hell is the matter with you, you old ding bat?" she shrieked.

The elderly lady sat up proudly and said coolly, "You leave that poor boy alone, Midea. Unlike you, he's at least making some effort in taking care of his own child."

"I take care of my children just fine, mother!"

"Oh, yes. By having them raised my a nanny 24/7 and shipping them off to boarding school just because you don't want to balance out your life at home and your life at work. Yes, that should put you at the very top of the best mother of the year awards."

Midea's face turned bright red and she turned back around in her seat, not saying another word through out the entire flight.

The elderly woman turned her attention on Freddy and Tiffany and smiled sweetly, "I apologize for my daughter's rudeness. That's what happens when you raise a child on wealth and don't make them learn to apprieciate the little things in life. What's your name, young man?"

"Uh... Fred Dukes. And um... Thanks."

"Fred Dukes. What a pleasent name. My name is Rose. And your little one?"

"Tiffany."

"Oh, isn't she just adorable! Hello, sweetie." Tiffany sniffled and shied away from her.

"Say hello to the nice lady, Tiffany."

Tiffany buried her face into his overhalls, "No!"

"Tiffany! Don't be rude."

"Oh, it's alright, Freddy dear. Babies her age normally won't open themselves up to strangers. They would rather stay close to people whom they're familiar with."

"Oh. I-I didn't know that." he blushed a bit.

"How old are you, dear?"

"17, ma'am."

"Oh, my! You're just a baby yourself."

"I'm not a baby! I'm almost 18... Next year."

"I know you're not a baby, dear. It's just you're so young and you already have a child before your life has even started."

He looked away from Rose, "I didn't know I was a dad, until yesterday."

"Oh? If you don't mind my asking, how so?"

"Lil' Tiffany here, well... Her mom passed away and I'm the only living relative that could take her. I guess you think I should've just given her up for adoption and be done with it, huh?" he looked back at her, expecting to see an expression that would say yes, but instead she simply smiling at him.

"I don't think that at all, dear. I believe what you're doing is very admirable."

"Really?"

"Yes. Not very many teenage boys these days will accept responsibility for their own offspring and just leave. But you... I can tell by your eyes that you won't do that. You actually want this child and you want to give her the world."

"Wow... You can tell that just by looking at me?"

She chuckled, "You are not that hard to read, Freddy. You are the kind of person that lives your life by your emotions and your heart. And right now, Freddy dear, that child is your heart."

Freddy looked down at Tiffany, who had fallen soundly asleep in his arms. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair.

"Enjoy her while you have her, dear. Children can do wonders for your life, but..." she glaces sadly at the seat in front of her, "They can also break your heart. Give or take on how you decide to raise them."

Freddy thought long and hard on Rose's words through the rest of the flight. Even though he only had Tiffany for a short while, he already felt a great deal of love for her, and he wanted to keep her as long as he could. Once their plane had landed, Rose gave Freddy her phone number and address, so that they could keep in touch. He held Tiffany in his arms protectively as he made his way through the crowd. Mystique and the others were already waiting for him by the baggage claim. They all shared the same expression of shock as they saw their very large friend caring a very small child.

"Uh... Hi, guys." he tried to smile, despite his nervous feelings. "Miss me?"

Mystique walked up to him, giving him a scolding glare, "Why do you have a child in your arms, Freddrick?"

"Cause she's my kid, Mystique."

Pietro sped up next to him, giving the two of them a thoughtful look, "Hmmm Yep. Definately can tell she's yours. Same blonde hair; same chubby cheeks."

"Shut up, Pietro! That's just baby fat." Freddy snarled.

"Yeah, so what's your excuse?" he laughed as he dodged a hit.

"You're a dad, yo?" Todd hopped up to the opposite side of Freddy and stared at Tiffany, "Cool!"

"No, Toad. Not cool." Mystique snapped, "Fred, you are 17 years old and are a member of the Brotherhood. Between having a job and fighting for our cause, when the hell do you expect to have time to raise a small child?"

"I-I don't know." he looked down, not willing to meet her eyes, "I just... I just didn't want her to be alone."

Mystique sighed, looking at the two dissaprovingly, "What am I going to do with you, Fred?"

"Just leave him alone, Mystique." Lance finally spoke up, "If he wants to raise his own kid, then let him. He can't do any worse than you."

Mystique shot him a dangerous glare, "Watch what you say, Lance, or else you might replace have you replaced."

"Oh, yeah, and I'm sure your boss. His dad." he pointed at Pietro, "Would like seeing his second string boy scouts dwendling all because you lost your temper."

"Lance, I'm swear I'm going to-"

"Dah Dah? Where Mama?"

All attention was on Tiffany now.

Freddy adjusted her so she could face him, "Mama... Went away, sweetie. To a better place."

"Mama come back?"

"No, sweetie. She can't come back."

Tiffany didn't understand, "I wan Mama. I wan Mama now!"

Todd looked up at his friend, "Freddy. Does she not know?"

"I don't think she understands."

"I wan Mama, Dah Dah." Tiffany began to cry and Freddy hugged her close.

"Shhhh It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. Shhhhh"

As Mystique watched the scene, her heart began to ache, "Let's all just go home. We can discuss this later. For now... Let's all just relax and enjoy what's left of this day."

Lance grabbed Freddy's bag and everyone followed Mystique out to her limo.

"Home, driver." Mystique called behind her. She was quiet for long while, until she finally decided to speak again, "I'm going to give you some time off from the Brotherhood, Freddrick."

"What?"

"You need some time to yourself to grieve. You are no use to the team when you can't think with a clear head." she gave Tiffany a thoughtful look, then looked back up at Freddy, "Use this time wisely. Understand?"

"Yes. Mystique."


	4. Big Brother's Advice

Chapter 4

Big Brother's Advice

Evening came and Freddy had finally got settled back into the Brotherhood House. Even though he was tired from the flight, he took the time to set up his room so that Tiffany could sleep in their as well. Lucky for him, it didn't take much since he didn't own very much stuff. All's that he had to do was clean up and set his room up to be baby compatable. As he did this, Tiffany decided that she wanted to help. Though her way of helping was more of hindering. She pulled out all of her toys from the luggage and scattered them all over the floor. When she tried to pull out her clothes, she ended up pulling the suitcase off of the bed, and everything simply fell out.

"Uh oh." she said.

Freddy turned around, "What the- How-" he stammered as he looked at his floor.

Quickly she flipped over the suitcase. Everything else that was inside fell out and she quickly throw it back in, "Dad Dah, I 'elping!" he watched as the contents of his suitecase grew higher and higher, "Yay! I 'elp!" he stared at her speechlessly as she stood proudly by the mountain of clothes that she created.

"Uh... Good job, sweetie." he walked over to the pile of clothes and moved them over to his dresser.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "What you doin', Dah Dah?"

"Putting the clothes away." he said as he began folding them.

"Why?"

"So that they don't get all wrinkley and stuff."

"Why?"

"Sooooo that they'll look nice when we pull them out."

"Why?"

"Just-Just... Because that's how things are done around here!" he didn't yell, but he was getting a little annoyed.

"Why?"

He ran his hand down his face, "Just-Just go play, sweetie."

"Okay, Dah Dah." she sat down and began playing with her toys.

"Thank God!" he murmured and went back to work on folding and putting the clothes away.

Within ten minutes Tiffany was already bored and ready to explore the house. She walked out of the room when Freddy's back was turned and began heading straight for the stairs. As she attempted to decend down the steps, a pair of hands picked her up, and brought her back into Freddy's room.

Freddy looked up to see Lance holding his daughter.

"I think you lost something." he held her out to him.

"Thanks." he took her, "I didn't even hear her sneak by."

"You might want to invest in a baby gate, bro. So that your little escape artist there doesn't get herself hurt."

"Yeah, I'll say." he playfully tossed Tiffany up in the air and caught her. She giggled hysterically as he began tickling her.

Lance simply watched the two and smiled, "You two already look like a real family."

"That's cause we are." he chuckled, hugging his daughter, "She a part of the Brotherhood family now." Lance's expression suddenly went serious, "What?"

"I'm glad that you're happy to be a father and all. But..."

"But what, Lance?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, Freddy, but I don't think the Brotherhood life is the right life for her."

"What do ya mean?"

He leaned against the door way, "We are constantly fighting for Magneto's dream world, where mutants reign supreme, and humans are practically our slaves. What if your daughter doesn't become a mutant like us? Where will she fit in our world? Do you honestly think Magneto would be willing to make an acception for the two of you?"

"I-I don't know."

Lance's expression softened when he saw how sad Freddy became, "I'm not trying to be mean, buddy. I'm trying to give you a realistic view."

"I know... It's just- It's just I've never had a family before, until I joined the Brotherhood. Now that I have Tiffany, I just want her feel like she's a part of something bigger, ya know?"

"Yeah, but that something could be more of a danger to her health than anything else. It could even get her taken away from you. Not just by Magneto, but by child services too. If that happens, you might never see her again."

Freddy hugged his daughter protectively, "I don't want that to happen."

"I know you don't, buddy, but these are things you gotta think about now. You have to put your kid's needs before your own now. And you will have to make a lot of sacrifices in order to keep her."

Freddy stared at his friend for a long time before speaking again, "You sound like you are speaking from experience."

"I am." he pushed himself off of the door frame and started to leave. Before leaving, he turned to say one last thing to his friend, "As Mystique said, make use of this time, Freddy. I suggest that you think about what's more important to you. A fight that we may or may never win or your daughter who needs your love and guidence more than ever. Think about it." he started to leave, but Freddy called out to him.

"Lance, wait!"

"What?"

"What... What would you chose?"

Lance stopped, keeping his back turned towards Freddy, "If it were me... I would chose my kid over a crazy man's dream any day."

"You have a kid of your own don't you?"

"I did... Once."

"Once? What happened?"

Lance was very quiet for a while, "Just take this time to think long and hard, Freddy. I'll see you later at dinner." with that he had disappeared into his own room.

Todd came into the room shortly after Lance left, "Yo, Freddy! Whats up? Whoa, you okay, yo? You like like someone just kicked your puppy."

"What? Naw, I'm okay, Toad. I was just thinking is all."

"Oh, that's cool, yo. Oh, by the way. Mystique wanted me to give you this." Todd handed Freddy a wad of money.

Freddy took it, "What's this for?"

"To buy Tiffany a bed and some other stuff. She also said, you might want to buy some groceries for her, like healthy baby food stuff." Freddy gave the money back to Todd, who was confused, "What's wrong, Freddy? Don't you want the money? It's free. No strings attatched."

"I don't want it."

"What? It's free money, yo! Freee moneeeeey."

"I want to use my own money to help my daughter. Money that I've earned. No one elses."

"Really? But Mystique-"

"Mystique is not happy with me right now, so I don't know where here intentions lye. I don't even know where my intentions lye." he put his daughter back down and continued to put the rest of the clothes away.

"Freddy?" Todd approached him slowly.

Freddy placed his hands on the dresser and leaned forward, "Lance said that if I wanted to keep Tiffany, then I would have to make sacrifices."

"Sacrifices? What kind of sacrifices?"

"The kind that could tare my family apart."


	5. Conversations in the Park

Chapter 5

Conversations in the Park

For the next few days Freddy spent time with his daughter and contemplated on what to do about his situation. He knew eventually he'd have to go back to fighting for Magneto's cause and go back to work. But he didn't know what he was going to do with Tiffany during those times. Lance's words affected him greatly and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to continue fighting for a cause that might get Tiffany taken away from him.

On the third day, he took Tiffany to the park to let her play. Freddy sat down on one of the park benches and kept a careful eye on her.

Tiffany laughed and giggled as she chased a butterfly around. She picked some nearby flowers and gave them to Freddy, who smiled as he kindly took them. Turning around, something caught her eye and she let out a squeal, which made Freddy jump with a start.

"Mama! Mama!" she ran up and hugged a woman with long red hair.

Freddy quickly stood up and went straight for Tiffangy, "Tiffany, that's not you Mama, sweetie. That's- Jean!"

"Freddy!" Jean looked at the large boy with exaperation, then she looked down at the little toddler hugging her legs, "Um... Who is this?"

"This" he pulled Tiffany off of her legs and held her in his arms, "is Tiffany. She's my daughter."

"Your daughter? Since when did you-"

"It's a looooong story."

"One that I have plenty of time to hear." she put her hand on her hip.

"Really?" he looked at her incrudiously, "You're really gonna make me tell you the whole thing right here, right now?"

"What do you think?" she folded her arms in front of her chest.

He ran his free hand through his mowhawk and gestured to the bench, "Well, you might as well have a seat. We're gonna be here for quite a while."

About half an hour passed...

"And that's how I got my daughter. Happy now?"

Jean stared at him for a long time, looking from him to his daughter, then back to his daughter again. "Uh... Wow. In all honesty, I never, never thought you to be the type to take on such a big responsibility."

"Why not." he shrugged, "I know I ain't never finished school, but I at least want to do something worthwhile in my life, and raising Tiffany here is about the best way to go."

"But won't raising her interfere with the Brotherhood? And what if-"

Freddy help up a hand, "Please, Jean. I've heard the same questions from my teammates already. I really don't want to hear them repeated again." he leaned back and stared off into the distance. Jean was about to say something, but he cut her off, "It's not like I haven't been thinking about it. In fact, it's all I've been thinking about. I just wish I knew what to do."

"What's to know? You have a daughter you want to keep. Right?" he nodded, "Then do the right thing and leave the Brotherhood. That way you won't run the risk of getting your daughter taken away from you."

"Easy for you to say. For most of my life no one has ever respected me or treated me as an equal, until I joined up with the Brotherhood. Well, Pietro doesn't really respect me, but the others do at least. The Brotherhood is the first real family that I've ever had. Now that I have Tiffany my family has gotten even bigger. But..."

"But it has also made things a bit more complicated." she sighed, "What do you want to do, Freddy? Don't even think about it. Just say out loud."

"I want to raise my kid." he looked back at Jean, "I really want to raise her, Jean."

"Then you know what you must do." she stood up and started to leave, but stopped when she felt Tiffany grabbed her hand.

"Don go, Mama." she stared up at her with big green eyes.

Jean stared down at her, then looked to Freddy, "Why does she keep calling me that?" Freddy sighed, pulling out his wallet, he opened it, and pulled out a photo. Jean took it and saw a smiling woman who was almost exactly like her, only older, and with slightly different facial structure. "She looks almost like me..."

"Yeah." he took the picture back and tucked it away.

"Is... Is that the reason why you liked me?"

"Kind of." he blushed. "I ain't gonna lie. I like red heads. But... The real reason I liked you, was because you were nice to me." for a long time she was quiet, "Jean?"

"Hm?"

"I know that we ain't exactly on good terms and stuff, but... Do you think you could babysit Tiffany for me for me sometime?"

"Babysit?" she arched an eyebrow, "If you're going on a mission with the Brotherhood, then forget it!"

"No, no. I'm not gonna do nothing like that."

"Then what?"

"I need to make preperations."

"Preperations. For what?"

"To start my new life with my daughter."

"Really? You're actually going to do the right thing?"

"Yeah. Thanks to you and Lance." he genuinely smiled at her, "Think you can watch her for me tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks, Jean."

"Your welcome."


	6. Asking Favors

Chapter 6

Asking Favors

The next morning, Freddy dropped Tiffany off at the Xavier Institute. He was greatful that Jean was already up and waiting for him on the front porch and that none of the others' were outside.

"Thanks again, Jean." he handed her Tiffany, the diaper bag, and a small bag of her toys, "I really mean it."

"Your welcome, Freddy. I don't mind watching Tiffany as long as your not going off to do Brotherhood stuff or anything illegal for that matter."

"Believe me when I say that those things are far from my mind."

"Good. So what's on the agenda for today?"

"I'm gonna look at apartments and maybe some rental houses. Apparently I'm not old enough to own a house which really sucks. More than likely I'm gonna have to borrow some money from Mystique." he frowned on the last part.

"I take it Mystique doens't know yet?"

"I think she does, she probably just wants to hear me say it. She wasn't too happy when I came back from Texas with Tiffany, especially since I didn't call to let her know that I was bringing a little more than extra luggage along."

"I can see why she would be a little tiffed at that. You think she's going to let you go to lead your own life?"

"I don't know. I'll find out in a little bit when I head back home." he looked down at his daughter and began stroking her hair, "Hopefully things'll turn out okay. I'm not gonna hold my breath, but I'm not gonna give up either."

Jean smiled at his determination, "Well, I'm glad to see that you have your mind set on your goal. I hope you are successful, Fred. I'd really like to see you turn your life around for the better."

He looked back up at Jean, "Same here." then he looked back down at his daughter, "Now you be good for Jean today, okay? She's gonna watch after ya while Daddy goes out and tried to find us a nice new place to live in. Maybe after I get back I'll take you out for ice cream. Okay?"

"Yay! Ice cweam!"

"Only if you behave."

"I be good, dah dah."

"Good." he smiled, waved good bye to Jean, and hopped into the back of Lance's jeep. "Thanks again, man, for doing this for me."

"No problem, bro. Anytime." he started the car and took the both of them back to the Brotherhood House, where they would find Mystique sitting in the living room; reading the newspaper.

"This had better be important for you two to be bothering me on my day off, boys." she said not looking up from her paper.

"It kinda is, Mystique." Lance said.

She looked up from her paper, "Well? What is it?"

Lance was about to speak, but Freddy stepped forward to speak for himself, "I've made my decision, Mystique. I wanna quit the Brotherhood and start a new life with my daughter."

She put down her newspaper and folded her arms in front of her chest, "Well, I guess that does make this conversation important." she sighed, "I supose I should have seen this coming. Are you sure this is the decision you want to make?"

"I have never been more sure of anything in my entire life." he took a deep breath, "But... In order to do that... I would need to borrow some money. If that is alright?"

She studied him for a bit before speaking again, "No."

He frowned and turned to leave, "Hmph Figures. Come on, Lance."

"I mean no, as in I will not let you borrow the money. But I will give it to you."

Her words made them stop in their tracks.

"What?" they both said.

"I said I will give you the money, Freddrick."

He turned back around, he held an unsure expression upon his face, "Not to look a gifted horse in the mouth, Mystiuqe, but why? I thought you would be trying to do everything you could to stop me from leaving the Brotherhood."

"Normally I would. But after seeing how well you and your daughter get along, it made me really regret never making the right decisions for my own children, and it still hurts to this day. I don't want you to feel the same pain that I do because of some selfish decisions."

"Won't Magneto be angry with you?"

"Don't you worry about Magneto. You just focus on what your going to do."

He looked at his mentor in awe. Never once had she ever shown him this much kindness and respect. It moved him greatly to know that she hadn't given up on him like most people have.

Just then Todd hopped into the room. He had just gotten off of work, so he was still wearing his work clothes. He sat his lunch pale down and plopped down on a nearby recliner.

"Whadda day, yo. I never thought that there would be people who would be crazy enough to chase down a garbage truck to get back their trash." he looked at the others to see if any of them were listening, but found that they were in a world of their own, "What's up, yo? Somethin' wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, Toad." Mystique said, trying to ignore the combined stench of Todd and the garbage. "Freddy simply has made his decision to leave the Brotherhood."

"What?" Todd jumped to his feet, "Is that true, yo?"

"Yeah, lil' buddy. It's true. I'll be looking for a new place to live today."

"B-But why?" Todd looked very disheartened.

Freddy sighed at his friend's expression, "I have to do what's best for my daughter, Toad. It ain't like I wanna leave, but I just can't be part of the Brotherhood and be a full time dad at the same time. I know it's probably hard for you to understand, but this is something that I just have to do."

Todd looked down at the floor, tears were threatening his eyes, "So... This means your never coming back?"

Freddy walked up to him and put a heavy hand upon his small friend's shoulder, "Not to be part of the Brotherhood agian no, but that doesn't mean I won't come back and visit from time to time." Todd didn't say a word. Freddy peered down into his friend's face, "Todd?"

"Whatever, yo." he slapped Freddy's hand away and went to his room.

"Toad!" he started to go after him.

Lance grabbed Freddy's shoulder and stopped him, "Let him go. He needs to be alone for awhile."

"But-"

"You can't get through to him when he's upset like this. Best thing you can do is let him cool down and talk to him later."

"I guess your right." he sighed, "But I don't like it."

"None of us do, bro. Right now we need to focus on you finding a suitable place for you and your daughter to live." Lance noticed Freddy still staring after Todd's bedroom door, "Come on. You can talk to him when we get back."

"Okay."

"If you boys don't mind." Mystique said, getting up and putting on her purse, "I think I'll tag along. Just to make sure you don't get in way over your head and pay for a place that you can't even afford."

With that they all piled into Lance's jeep and began their long search for Freddy's new home.


	7. Ice Cweam! Ice Cweam!

Chapter 7

Ice Cweam! Ice Cweam!

Through out the day, Mystique, Lance, and Freddy spent their time searching for houses and appartments that Freddy could affordabley rent and have enough left over to pay his bills and keep Tiffany fed. Every house or apartment that they came across that the boys thought was alright Mystique would shoot it down and tell them to move on to the next one. At the rate they were going Freddy was considering giving up.

By the end of the day, they returned home unsuccessful. Freddy was irratated and a little sad, but when he went to pick up his daughter seeing her filled his eyes with joy and brought a smile to his face.

"Dah Dah! Dah Dah!" Tiffany squealed as she came running up to her father, who scooped her up in his massive arms, and playfully tossed her up in the air and caught her, "WEEEEEEE Ha Ha"

"Hey, kiddo." he squeezed her gentley, "Have ya been good for Jean and her friends?"

"I good, Dah Dah. I good!"

He looked up to see Jean smiling at him on the front steps, "Yeah, she's been a very good girl all day long. She even tried to help out with the chores that the others' were doing."

"I'm glad to hear that. Um... How much do I owe ya for babysitting?"

"Nothing. Just help me out when I need a favor next time, okay?"

"You gotta deal." he winked at her and placed his daughter on his shoulders, "Well, I promised you ice cream if you were good, and ice cream you will get."

"Yay! Ice cweam! Ice cweam!"

He chuckled and then turned back to Jean, "Would you like to join us?"

Jean thought for a moment, Freddy could tell she was hesitant, but she spoke before he could decline his offer, "Sure. I could go for a sugar rush right about now." when she stood up, a firm hand grasped her shoulder from behind her. She didn't have to be a telepath to know that it was her boyfriend Scott.

"I don't think you should go." he whispered in her ear, "He might get the wrong idea. Remember what happened last time you were nice to this guy?"

"It'll be okay, Scott. I don't think he's going to try anything."

"Just because he has a kid and is trying to leave the Brotherhood doesn't change his nature. I don't want you to get hurt is all."

"Thanks for your concern, but I think I'll be okay, Scott." she removed his hand and gave him a slightly disguested look, "I'll be back later tonight."

"Jean!" he tried to go after her, but Jean used her powers to throw him back inside the house, and shut him in, until she and Freddy were a good distance away.

They were all piled into Lance's jeep, heading to the ice cream parlor. Everyone in the vehical was quiet except for Tiffany, who had out some of her toys, and began playing a game of make believe with them.

Jean finally broke the silence between the three teenagers and said, "I'm sorry about what happened back there. Scott can be a real jerk at times."

"It's okay. Considering what I did to ya before... I would be worried and kinda protective too." he paused for a moment, "I'm sorry about all that by the way. I never had a girl be nice to me other than Clarice."

"I understand." she smiled softly, "It is hard to be accepted by others when they simply judge you by your looks instead of your personality."

Lance, who was sitting the front seat, watched the two from his rear view mirror. He too had his doubts about Jean joining them, but he was more worried about his friend getting hurt again. But he would keep his opions to himself, until he found it necissary to speak.

"Well, we're here." he said, pulling into the drive way of Bayville's Ice Cream Parlor.

They all climed out of the jeep and went inside. Freddy got a banana split which he shared with Tiffany, Lance got a rocky road ice cream cone, and Jean got a vanilla sunde with chocolate syrup and sprinkles. They talked amongst themself and laughed whenever a joke was thrown around.

Jean couldn't help but admire the bond between Tiffany and Freddy. She completely found the two adorible with one another and couldn't help but giggle when she noticed how much Freddy fussed over his daughter.

The giggling caught Freddy's attention, "What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. Just watch the two of you together is priceless. I never really could imagine you being dad material until today and now seeing you fuss over your daughter's messy face makes me see you as perfect dad material."

Lance licked his ice cream and smirked at his friend, "She's complimenting you, Freddy."

"I know that! I ain't that dumb."

"Hey, calm down, man. I know you ain't dumb. I was just clarifying in case you were confused. Jeez, you're over sensitive at times. I'd hate to see what your like when your daughter hits puberty."

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Let's not talk about stuff that's going to be a long ways away from now. I want to keep my little girl little for as long as I can have her."

Lance chuckled, "Yeah, but right now you have her in the 'I'm cute and sweet' stage, when she hits two years old... You're gonna wish that she was 18 already and out of your house."

"Lance!" Jean scolded him, "That's a very mean thing to say!"

"Okay. I'll admit, that may have been a little out of line."

"A little?"

"Okay! A lot. Anyways, Freddy here is going to get his first taste with dealing with an angsty teenager when we head back home tonight."

"What?"

"Toad's really upset about Freddy moving out and has locked himself in his bedroom and won't come out."

"He wouldn't even come out from free food." Freddy added in, "Seeing his expression when I told him makes me not want to leave now."

"But your gonna." Lance gave his friend a stern look, "If you want to keep your kid, your going to do what's right for her. No matter how painful it may be."

"Ya know. One of these days you're gonna have to tell me about your kid-"

Lance suddenly kicked Freddy really hard under the table, "Shut up, man! No one knows else is supose to know about that!"

"You have a kid of your own?" Jean gave me a combined look of interest and disgust, "Have you been fooling around behind Kitty's back?"

"Do you think I'm suicidal? She'd stick Logan on me if I so much as make her cry."

"Then how do you have a kid?"

"It was a long time ago. Way before I met Kitty at our old school. And that's about as much as I'm willing to tell you."

"Well, that's no fun. You get me all interested in the conversation and then leave me hanging."

Lance's face grew dark, but instead of saying anything or yelling, he simply got up, and went outside.

Jean's face fell, "I didn't mean to upset him. I'll go-"

Freddy reached out and caught hold of her hand, "I don't think that's a good idea right now."

"But I-"

"Trust me on this one. Okay?"

Jean sighed to her dismay and she sat back down, "I'm sorry, Freddy. I shouldn't have pushed the subject."

"It happens. We all get curious from time to time. Hell even I'm curious about Lance's mysterious kid, but he won't tell me anymore than what you know now."

"Is he going to be alright? Should I call Kitty and have her calm him down?"

"Nah Lance is a cool guy. He'll brew about it for about 15 minutes and then he'll forget what he was mad about. He'll be back to his old self in no time.

Meanwhile, Lance was sitting outside in his jeep; hiding his face behind the steering wheel. He was trying to hide the flowing tears pouring out of his eyes. He wouldn't go back inside until about half an hour later when he could cry no more. He went straight for the rest room first before heading back to the others and washed his face until he was sure that the puffiness in his eyes had gone away.

When he finally came out, he walked up to the others, and motioned with his head towards his jeep, "You guys ready to go? It's getting pretty late and you still haven't found a place to live yet."

Jean looked at Freddy with concern, "You haven't found a place yet?"

Freddy blushed, "Well, we did, but we had Mystique with us and she pretty much turned down all of the places that we picked out."

Jean arched an eyebrow, "Why would you have Mystique with you? Aren't you trying to get away from her?"

"Well, we pretty much had to say in it since she was the money provider. We'll be trying again tomorrow, hopefully she won't be as anal retentive as she was today."

"You don't think she playing some sort of mind game with you do you?"

"If she is she'll be sorry. If she does this again tomorrow, I'm just going to say fu- Uh I mean screw it and do this on my own. With or without her help."

"You know you could always come live at the X-Men Mansion."

"I could but no offense but I don't want my kid living in a place that gets blown up and torn apart on a regular basis."

"I can understand that. Well, if you need help just ask. I can watch Tiffany again for you tomorrow if you like."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it'll be my pleasure to watch this little cutie."

"Thanks again, Jean. Really."

"Well, just remember that this will make two favors that you owe me now." she smirked.

Lance, who stood patiently had finally lost his patience, "You two going to talk the night away or are we going to leave?"

"Sorry, buddy." Freddy said, standing up, holding his daughter, and helping Jean out of her chair, "We're ready now."

They all piled into Lance's jeep and Lance took them all to their respective homes.


	8. My Best Friend

Chapter 8

My Best Friend

After Lance had dropped Jean off at the X-Mansion, he took Freddy and himself home. Once inside their respective home, Lance motioned for Freddy to go speak with Todd, and then went to his own room.

Before finally speaking with his young friend, he gave Tiffany a bath, got her ready for bed, and tucked her into his bed. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on top of her forehead, "Good night, Sweetie. Pleasent dreams."

Tiffany let out a big yawn and rubbed her eyes, "Night. Night, Dah Dah." and then she fell to sleep.

Freddy chuckled and quietly left his room to go speak with Todd. As he approached Todd's door, he could feel his heart skip a beat. He brought his hand up to the door, but hesitated, ""What am I gonna say to the little guy?" he muttered to himself, "I don't even know where to start."

Just then Todd's door opened. When Todd saw Freddy standing in front of him he jumped with a start, "Gah! What the hell, Freddy? You trying to give me a heart attack or something?"

"Sorry, Toad. I didn't mean ta scare ya. I just really wanted to talk to you about earilier is all."

Todd frowned and looked away, "There's nothin' to talk about. You've made your decision plain and simple. Now go away." he tried to close his door, but Freddy caught it, this made Todd angry, "Let go, Freddy!"

"Not until we talk about this."

"I don't wanna talk. Now let go!" even though Todd knew that Freddy was stronger than him, he still tried to close his door.

Freddy sighed, losing his patience, he used his strength to push the door open. He grabbed Todd by the back of his shirt and picked him up, he stepped inside, and shut the door behind them so that they may have a private conversation.

"Hey! Put me down, you big ape!"

"I just want to talk, Toad. Is that too much to ask?"

Todd flailed around wildly, "I. Don't. Want. To. Talk!" he tried to swing at Freddy's face, but missed, and spun around like a top.

"Well, tuff! We're gonna have this conversation whether you like it or not." he forcibley sat Todd down on his bed. He stood in front of him with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Todd glared up at him, "Just because your a dad now doesn't mean you get to act like that with me! You're not my dad and never will be!"

"I'm not trying to do that, Todd." Freddy's expression softened, "I'm just trying to find out why my best friend is so upset." he sat down next to Todd and put his arm around him, "Talk to me, buddy. You're usually so honest with me."

Todd tried to pull away, but Freddy had a firm grasp on his shoulder. He didn't want meet his friend's gaze, so he stared down at the floor, "You're abandoning me just like everyone else."

Freddy felt a little hurt, "What makes you think I'm gonna abandon you? My best bud. I told you thant I would come back from time to time to visit-"

"But you have a kid now. You'll be so busy taking care of her that you'll completely forget about me and stop coming by. When you leave, I'll have no one else."

"You'll still have the others. Lance, Pietro, and Myst-"

"You really think they give a rats ass about me?" Todd's head shot up, tears threatening his eyes, "Lance barely notices anything unless it involves Kitty and his jeep. Pietro pokes fun at me and doesn't even respect me. And Mystique... Mystique hates me."

"No she doesn't, Todd. Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

"The only reason I'm here is because Mystique and Mags were desperate for recruits and she bullied me into the Brotherhood. I never even wanted to join the Brotherhood in the first place! I would rather join the X-Men than be here." he could no longer hold in his tears, feeling embarrassed he tried vigorously to rub them away, "You're my only real friend, Freddy. You make living here bareable. When you go... Who else is gonna take care of me the way you do?" he was so overwelmed by his own emotions, that he threw his arms around Freddy; shaking violently as he hugged him, "I know it's selfish, but I just don't want to be alone."

Freddy wrapped his arms around Todd and hugged him protectively. Out of habbit he began stroking the young boy's head, like he usually did with his daughter when she was sad. "You won't be alone, Todd." he soothed, "Cause I'm gonna take you with me."

Todd pulled back and looked up at him with his tear streaked face, "Y-You really mean it, yo?"

"Yeah." he smiled, "You are my best friend, Todd, and you're right. Who else is gonna take as good a care of you as I have?" he smiled as Todd went from sad to glad, "Besides. I don't think that it's right for you to live in a place that you hate or be part of a team that you were bullied into."

"W-What about, Mystique? She won't willingly let me go even though I'm the weakest member of this team."

"She can find other mutants just as easily as she found you and me. But if you're gonna live with me, you will have to pull some of your own weight. I do have a kid I have to look after after all. But if you ever need help, I'll be there to help ya as best as I can."

Todd leaned back in for another hug, resting his head on his best friends chest, "Thank you." he said in a horsed whisper.

"You're welcome. We're gonna go look at houses and appartments again tomorrow. If you like, we can wait for you to get off of work, and you can come tag along to help us pick one out. That's if Mystique doesn't turn it down first."

"I'd like that."

"Then it's set then." the two boys sat quietly for a long time, until Todd's stomache let out a growl that could rival Freddy's own stomache.

"S-Sorry." Todd laughed nervously, "I haven't eaten anything since I got home from work.

Freddy chuckled, breaking the embrace, and patted his friend on the back, "Come on. Let's go out for pizza. My treat."

"Really? Thanks!"

With that Freddy got Lance to watch Tiffany and the two went out to their favorite local pizza joint and ate a late dinner.


	9. Mystique's Realization

Chapter 9

Mystique's Realization

The next morning, Freddy, Tiffany, Todd, and Lance were all up bright and early eating breakfast. They were waiting for Mystique, who was taking her sweet time to get ready.

Pietro was the second to last to make his way down to the breakfast table. He had heard about Freddy quitting the Brotherhood and searching for a new place to live. He didn't take it as hard as Todd, but he didn't even take it as well as Lance. He grabbed a plate and sat down next to Freddy.

He ate his food, speaking in between mouthfuls, "So... You really leaving the Brotherhood?"

"Yeah. Kinda have to." Freddy motioned to Tiffany.

"Ya know, I never really thought of you as the family man type. Hell, I didn't even think that you liked kids with as much as you've been picked on. Or find someone who'd be willing to help ya make one."

"Is there a point to all this Pietro or are you just trying to push my buttons like you always do?"

"A little of both. I gotta keep you on your toes or else you'll go back to losing your temper quicker than me running." Pietro laughed at his own joke, but when he noticed that no one else was joining in he became serious again, "Reason for all of my poking and prodding, I just want to say that I'm glad that you have enough strength and courage to make your own choices and do whats right for you and your kid. It sucks that you're going to be leaving. But at the same time I'm just glad you're able to do what none of us can. Do you think you'll be able to make it out there all on your own?"

"I'm gonna try. That's the best answer I can probably give you."

"Well, if you need any help. Don't be afraid to ask. I may have been a prick to you ever since we met, but I do care, and I do concider you my friend."

Freddy and the others were taken back by Pietro's heart felt words.

"Thank you, Pietro." Freddy smiled, "Don't worry, I won't be all alone out there. I'll have lil' Tiffany here and Todd to keep me company."

Lance and Pietro both looked at Todd and said in unison, "Todd's going with you?"

"Yeah. We talked about it last night. I'm taking him with me so I can look after him."

Lance and Pietro both stared dumbfoundedly at the two of them. Freddy kept the rest of the reason why he was really having Todd come away with him because he didn't want to hurt his friends and because it was private. Todd may not think it, but everyone really did care about him in their own way. Todd just simply felt more connected to Freddy because he was the one who interacted with him the most out of everyone.

Suddenly everyone's attention was drawn to the kitchen door way, when they heard the sounds of Mystique clearing her throat. Everyone's face suddenly went pale. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave Freddy a scolding glare.

"Freddrick. I believe we need to talk. Now!"

Freddy gulped, "Yes, ma'am."

"I'll watch Tiffany for ya, yo."

"Thanks, Toad."

Freddy stood up and followed Mystique into the other room. They stood in the middle of the living room for a very long time before Mystique finally broke the silence.

"How long have you been planning to take Toad away from my care, Freddrick?"

"S-Since last n-night." normally he wasn't afraid of anybody, but he always held a great deal of fear for his mentor. Her actions were always speradic and there was no telling when she was in a good mood or a bad mood.

"Why?"

"He thinks that when I leave, he'll be all alone."

"But he won't be, Freddrick. He'll have me and the oth-"

"He doesn't believe that, Mystique. He believes that none of you really care about him and he really hates it here. I-I don't want him to be in a place where he's gonna be miserable for the rest of his life. He needs a fresh start, just like me and Tiffany."

She rapped her finger on her arm, her glare unyeilding, "I am willing to allow one member of my team to leave, but two is out of the question."

"But, Mystique-"

"But nothing, Freddy! Toad stays here and that's final!"

He cringed at her icey tone, "Please, Mystique... I know it's asking a lot, but if you'd of seen the look in Todd's eyes when I spoke to him last night... Can't you- Can't you at least find it in your heart to-" he tried to pursue the subject further, but he could tell that this was not a fight that he was about to win, "Will you at least think about it? Please?"

Her scowl did not leave her face, "I will consider it later. Right now, you and the others need to get in the car, so we can get this day started."

"Yes, ma'am." he turned and headed back into the kitchen feeling horribley defeated. The look on his face was enough to tell the others what had just happened. Todd above everyone else felt the worst despare in his heart. Freddy knew that it probably didn't matter, but he at least wanted to try, and give his young friend some shred of hope, "She said she'd think about it."

"Whatever, yo." Todd pushed back his food and got up to leave, "I don't think I feel like going out today, guys. If anybody needs me, I'll be in my room."

"Toad!" Freddy reached out to stop him, but Todd escaped his grasp, and dissapeared out of the room. "Damn it! Not again."

"Aw, let him go be emo, Fred." Pietro waved, "If the little bug sucker doesn't want to be optomistic then it's all on him. You at least tried to make him feel better."

Lance drank down the last of his orange juice, stood up, and put his vest on, "Well, as much as I love to listen to you guys fuss over Toad, I would very much like to get this day rolling. So, if you don't mind, let's get going."

Everyone piled into Mystique's limo, they first dropped Tiffany of with Jean, and then went on their long search for more houses and appartments to live in. Each place that they visited ended with the same never ending 'No' that Mystique gave them when they liked a certain place. Freddy and Lance kept their thoughts about the situation to themselves, because Mystique still held the checkbook. Pietro on the other hand refused to keep quiet any longer.

"Alright, Mystique, what gives? You say you wanna help Freddy out, but here you are, on the second day of house hunting turning down every affordible place for him to live. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have no intention of helping him find a place, and are just stringing him along for your own personal amusement!" he did not back down when Mystique shot him one of her icey glares, "Glare at me all you like, Mystique. It ain't going to scare me."

"How cruel of a person do you think I am?"

"I don't know. Lemme ask your kids real quick." he vanished out of the moving vehical and reappeared with in 20 seconds, weilding a cocky smile on his face, "Yep. Pretty cruel."

"Why you- you- you-"

"You- You- What, Mystique? Are you for once at a loss for words? Can it be? The blue smurf who has an answer for everything has nothing to say for once in her life?" suddenly out of no where, Mystique back handed Pietro very hard across his face, leaving a very dark mark, "Oh, yeah. I forgot. If you can't find the words you need, then you use your fists. Glad to know that you can be so mature about things."

"Listen here, you little welp! I may not be a good sameritan like Mother Theressa, but I am no where as cruel as your father! At least I'm grown up enough to let my kids go and let them do what's right for themselves."

Pietro's eyes were filled with hate and malice at the mention of his father, "You shut up about my father! You know nothing!"

"Do I? Then tell me why is it that your dear daddy would rather let his own daughter rot in an insane assylum than help her to control her powers himself? And why is it that he would rather give you money and let you live on your own instead of taking care you himself? At least I left Rogue in the capable hands of Destiny, who loved her and cared for her as her own. As for Kurt... Well, he was taken away from me before I even had a real chance to do anything for him. But when that chance came, your father had to go and ruin that all for me by sending all of you to keep me from telling my own son the truth as to why mommy couldn't be there for him."

For the longest time there was an acquard silence. Mystique and Pietro would not cease their stare down, until one of them tired. After about 20 minutes of this, Mystique finally grew tired, and told them that they were calling it a day much to everyone's dismay. The driver took them home. Mystique went to her room, Pietro ran to go blow off some of his steam, and Lance and Freddy went to go pick up Tiffany.

Lance and Freddy walked up to the door step of Xavier's and rang the doorbell. Jean, who was holding Tiffany on her hip, was the one who answered the door. When she saw them, she blinked with much surprise.

"Hey, guys. How come you're back so early?"

"There was a lot of drama today." Freddy sighed, "Let's just say... I don't think I'll be going back to the Brotherhood house for a while, until things cool back down."

"Same here." Lance leaned against the door frame, "Is Kitty home?"

"Yeah, she's up in her room." she stepped aside, "Go ahead. I'm sure she'll be excited to see you." as soon as Lance was inside, she turned her attention back to Freddy, "You want to come inside too? If anything we can just hang out and watch a movie or something, until you're ready to go back home."

"Thanks, Jean." he stepped inside and followed her to the rec room.

Scott and some of the others' were already there and all of them were very surprised to see Jean walking in with Freddy right behind her. Even though Scott's eyes were covered by his shades, Freddy could certainly feel his angry gaze upon him. Some of the others' were a little scared to see the large Brotherhood boy, the others were simply curious.

Jean placed Tiffany amongst some of toys that had already been laid out for her in front of the tv. Jean then sat down and patted the seat cushion next to her, inviting Freddy to do the same. She couldn't help but smirk when she saw him blush a bit. Then she turned the tv to something that they all could watch.

Meanwhile, back at the Brotherhood house, Mystique had been brewing in her room over the confrontation that she had had with Pietro. It had been at least a couple of hours since her driver dropped her off and Lance and Freddy had left to go get Tiffany. She was still furious. She was about to go out to any of the local bars and beat some heads in, when she suddenly heard a loud sound come from Todd's room. She went to investigate, not even bothering to knock, she opened his door, and caught sight of him trying to climb out of his bedroom window with a very large backpack.

"What are you doing, Toad?" she asked in a very annoyed tone.

Startled by her voice, Todd yelped, and fell backwards with a very hard thud. He groaned as he tilted his head back to look at her, "Nothing." he said, trying to sound innocent.

"Nothing my ass!" she walked up to him and yanked him out of his backpack and off of the floor, "Now tell me why you were climbing out of your bedroom window and with a very heavy bag." she bent down to unzip his backpack.

Todd paniced and tried to stop her, "Mystique! No! Don't open tha-" but it was all in vain, when she ripped open his bag.

Her eyes grew wide, when she saw that the bag contained a large amount of clothes, a few nick nacks, and a large some of cash that he had pick pocketed.

She stood back up and glared down at him with an expression that made his shrink away.

"You were trying to run away?"

"Um... No..."

"Don't lie to me, Todd Tolenski!"

He cowered away, scared that she was going to strike him. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please, don't hit me!"

"I'm not going to hit you." she said cooly, "Not as long as you tell me the truth."

He looked up at her with a great deal of fear, "I'm sorry... I-I just... just..."

"Just what, Toad?"

"I just don't want to be here anymore."

Mystique stared into the young boys eyes and studied him carefully. "Why?"

Todd swallowed his fear and spoke the truth, "Because when Freddy leaves, I'll be all alone. Nobody cares about me here. Not even you. You all just walk all over me like yesterdays trash and use me as your own personal punching bag. I never even wanted to be here. I-I- only came here because I thought you were going to kill me, unless I joined." Mystiques expression slowly went from angry to shock as she saw Todd starting to cry right in front of her, "I hate it here. Always have. The only reason I've stayed this long was because of Freddy and... I thought I had a family here. But knowing that he's leaving... I finally realized that I don't have a family here. It's just something I made up in my head because I didn't want to be alone anymore." as she watched the young boy shed his tears, something maturnal started to kick in, "I've been alone all my life. All's I wanted was to be part of a real family, but nobody wants a disgusting little toad like me! Not even you guys want me..." Mystique felt a twinge of pain in her heart as she allowed the boy to let it all out, "Freddy's my only real friend and the closest thing to a big brother that I have. You're willing to let him go just because he has a kid. But you won't let me go? Why? Why am I so fucking important that you won't let the weakest member of this team leave? It's not fair! It's not fair!" his knees suddenly gave out from underneath him and he began to fall, but to his surprise Mystique caught him, and held him in a strong and surprisingly motherly embrace. "Let me go! You don't care about me! You never did!" he tried to get away, but she held him tightly.

"I'm sorry, Todd!" she shouted above his voice, which made him stop struggling. She then returned her voice to normal and spoke in a kind, gentle tone that he had never heard before, "I'm so sorry. I should have never treated you the way that I did. I treated everyone almost as fairly, but you, and after actually hearing you say those things and watching you... It makes me truly regret everything that I've done to you."

"Why should I believe you? You don't even care for your own kids, yo."

"Believe it or not, Todd. I have always loved my children, I just never could let myself do the right things for them. I've lost both of my children for Magneto's stupid cause and for my own stupidity. I will never have a normal relationship with them... But what I greatly failed to realize is that even though I lost my own children," she pulled him away to look him in his eyes, "I had children waiting right here in my own house who could have used my love the most, and I took you all for granted. Especially you, Todd, and for that... I'm am truly sorry." she pulled him back into a loving hug and began stroking his hair, "I know that I can never make things right for you after all of the horrible things I've put you through. So... I'm going to allow you to go live with Freddrick and let you two live your lives whatever way you please."

Todd pulled away, looking in her eyes with disbelief, "Y-You really mean it, Mystique?"

"Yes, Todd." she smiled gently, moving a lock of his hair out of his face, "I really mean it. I realize now that I was forcing you to stay here just because I didn't want to lose anymore members of my team was selfish and wrong. I want you to be happy for once in your life. Just promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"Don't ever let anyone do horrible things to you, like we have, ever again. I want you to be strong for yourself. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good." she pulled him back in and held him for quite some time, "I know Freddrick will take good care of you and that you two will be fine. It's just going to be hard to watch you to go, now that I realize that you boys are the closest things to children that I have."

"What about Lance, Pietro, and Wanda? What if they wanna leave too?"

"If they want to leave... I won't stop them. They are like my own as well. Besides. We all know that Magneto never cared about the Brotherhood anyways. He has his precious Acolytes to do his fighting for him now."

"If that happens... Then what will you do, yo?"

"Who knows. Maybe I'll go back home and patch things up with Destiny. Rogue and Kurt are fine where they are and they don't need me or want me around, so I won't interfer in their lives anymore."

"Mystique?"

"Hmm?"

"For all it's worth... Even though you smacked me around and yelled at me and stuff... You are the closest thing to a real mom that I've ever had."

She hugged him tighter and gave him a kiss on his head, "You are a good boy, Todd. I just wish I was better to you boys now that I realize how precious you all are to me. I'm so sorry for never being the guardian you all desperately needed me to be!" her own tears began to flow down her cheeks and into Todd's hair, who returned the tensity of her hug.

"Please, don't cry, yo? Otherwise..." tears formed in his eyes again, "I'll start crying again."

With that the two of them let their emotions flow, until they could cry no more. In one last attempt to do something motherly for Todd, she took him out shopping for new clothes, and anything that he had ever wanted. She wanted him to be prepared for his big move and she wanted to see her little boy smile. It wasn't until about 10 o'clock at night when the others came back home to find her, Wanda, and Todd sitting in the living room watching tv. Mystique waited patiently for Freddy to put his sleeping daughter to bed before addressing him in front of the others.

She walked towards him and spoke with a soft, but firm tone, "I have made a decision and I have decided to allow Todd to go live with you. He needs to be with his best friend and I am confident that you will give me the care and respect that he needs most. But know this... Once you leave the Brotherhood, you can never come back. You can however keep in contact with your friends and spend time with them."

"Uh..." Freddy scratched his head with much confusion, "You said we can't come back, but we can keep in contact?"

"If you come here to the boarding house, you will risk chances of getting Tiffany taken away from you. The Brotherhood are criminals, Freddrick, no matter how you look at it. I want you to be able to keep your daughter. Sacrifices have to be made and the Brotherhood is a necissary one that you have to lose. I am not trying to be mean, Freddrick. I only want what's best for you. For all of you." she looked at everyone in the room, "You all are the closest things to my own children that I have."

"Tsk Yeah, right." Pietro muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"If your happiness means letting you all leave, then I won't get in your way. Any of you can leave anytime you want. Just remember, you can never rejoin the Brotherhood ever again." Pietro was going to say something more, but she was not finished, "Freddrick. I know that finding a place to live has been difficult for you, especially with me being around, so I took the liberty of buying you one of the houses that I liked. It's a house similar to this one, only smaller. It will have four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, dining room, a basement, an upstairs, and an attic. It's my gift to you. The house is fully paid off, so you only have to worry about utilities and other miscillanious expenses you wish to pay for."

"Mystique... Y-You didn't have to do that."

"I know. I just wanted to do something nice for my boys while I still could." she then looked to the others, "I will do the same for the rest of you if you like. I don't want to see any of my children living on the streets."

"Why should we believe you?" Pietro demanded, glaring at her with hate from this morning, "We all know that you are nothing more than a conniving, manipulating bitch. Why should any of us believe that you've changed for the better?"

She stared at him with eyes fill with sorrow, but she held herself firm, "I don't expect you to believe anything, Pietro. Not after what I've done to all of you. Take it however way you want to. But I just want all of you to know that from now on things will be different. And if you all decide to leave, as I said, I won't stop you. I'm just sorry that I never showed any of you the love and respect that you craved and need the most. But, if you will let me, and give me the chance, I still can."

"Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it." Pietro rolled his eyes and sped off into his bedroom.

Wanda, who was unsure as to what to do or say, shortly followed her brother to comfort him.

Lance simply shrugged his shoulders, not really caring one way or the other, and went to bed.

Todd and Freddy simply stood there in front of their guardian with looks of awe.

Even though the others didn't seem to care for her words, she at least felt some happiness when she saw that her two boys looked at her with much admiration.

"Tomorrow, I'll take you two out to buy some new furnishings for your house and help you set up the house in your name, Freddrick. I know that you're not 18 yet, but you should be able to own that house at the age you are now."

Freddy hugged Mystique and she hugged him back, "Thank you, Mystique. I don't know what's made you change, but I hope you stay this way. It's a good look on you."

"You and Tiffany are the ones I should thank, Freddrick, and Todd too. If things hadn't gone the way they have, I would still be the crabby blue smurf bitch that I was." they all chuckled at her little joke.

"You'll come to visit us, won't you, yo?"

"If you like, I will." she opened her arm and let Todd join in on the group hug.

Todd snuggled close to her and Freddy, for once he felt like he was part of a real family, and he couldn't stop himself from asking the question he had wanted to ask for a very long time, "Mystique? W-Would it be alright if I called you mom?"

She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek, "Nothing would make me more happy, Todd."

"Hey, if Todd get's to call you mom, then I think Tiffany should get to call you grandma." Freddy chuckled.

Mystique tried to shoot him an evil glare, but her eyes and happy smile gave her away, "Just how old do you think I am, Freddrick?"

"Old enough to know what a smurf is."

"That means you must be really old, yo."

"Ha Ha Well, just for that I might not buy you your first set of groceries for your house."

"What? No, I didn't mean that! I meant was that your old enough to be my sweet big sister."

"Yeah, not just that, but our very beautiful big sister, yo."

"Oh, well in that case I might just pay for your first two sets of groceries for your house."

They all laughed, until they could laugh no more, and then went to bed. Eagerly awaiting for another big day tomorrow.

Author's note: Sorry if this chapter is so sappy. Brain's kinda fried from work and the lack of sleep. That and tylonal, which is the bomb diggity for head aches. lol I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. There will definately be more to come.


	10. Todd the Babysitter

Chapter 10

Todd the Babysitter

For the next few days, Mystique helped the boys to get ready for their big move. They went shopping for furnature and appliances, filled out paper work, decorated Tiffany's new bedroom, and set up the house how they wanted it. Mystique also sat down with the boys and talked to them about how they could handle their expences and be able to have a little left over for fun. She even spent a little extra time with Todd to encourage him to have a better hygene and a higher self esteme.

By the end of the week they were finally settled in. Freddy and Todd went back to work and Jean continued to watch Tiffany. The more time Jean spent with Tiffany and Freddy, the closer she became to them. So close that Scott was starting to get jealous.

One night, Freddy had Todd watch Tiffany while he went to work. Jean would have watched her, but she had a mission she had to go on with the X-Men. While they were all away doing their own thing, Todd took the time to read the little instructions that Freddy had left for him about Tiffany. He had gotten about half way down the list before he got bored and tossed the note pad aside.

"For the love of God, Freddy! You might as well have written a book on child care." he turned to look at Tiffany, who was quietly playing with her toys, "How hard can it be to watch a baby anyways?" he walked over to her and squatted down in front of her, "Freddy worries too much. You ain't high matinence as he thinks you are. Are ya?" he ruffled up her hair and she squealed, "Naw. You're a tough cookie. Just like your old man, yo."

"Yo! Yo!" she squealed with delight, "Tough!" she raised her arms up and tried to flex them.

Todd laughed as he picked her up and playfully tossed her in the air, "I can see why ol' Freddy's so fond of you!" he caught her and hugged her, "I'm glad Freddy's keepin' you, yo. I've never seen the big guy smile so much in his life. It's good to see him truly happy for once."

She wrapped her tiny arms around his neck and snuggled against him, "Unki Todd."

"Unki wha?" he blinked.

"Unki Todd. Unki Todd! I wuv my Unki Todd!" she bounced in his arms and hugged him tighter.

"Awww" he placed her on his hip and walked towards the kitchen, "You hungry?"

"Hungy! Hungy!"

He laughed as he put her in her high chair, "Okay. Let's see what we got." he searched the cupboards and frowned, "Aw, jeez! Mom, why couldn't you have bought us food that I know how to cook? Only Freddy knows how to cook this kind of stuff." he leaned against the counter, debating on whether or not to have a pizza delivered, then suddenly he caught sight of the cookie jar, "Well, I guess these will have to do, until we can get some real food. Maybe I'll have mom pick us up something when she gets back from her mission." he reached into the cookie jar and grabbed a handful of chocolate chip cookies, "Here ya go."

"Cookies!" she grabbed them and gobbled them up instantly, "More! More!"

"Wow! Okay." he grabbed a few more and gave them to her. She downed them just as fast as the last and asked for more again, "Damn, kid! Where you puttin' all that, yo?"

"Hungy! Hungy!"

"Okay. Okay! Hold on a sec." he decided to order the pizza and as they waited, he ended up giving her the last of the cookies, which he quickly learned was a big mistake.

Hours later, Freddy finally got off of work, and came home. He opened the door to his house and what he saw made his mouth drop. The house was a disaster area. There were a combination of crayon markings all over the walls mixed with food that had also been poured all over the floor, pillow feathers floated in the air, and furnature had been turned over.

"What the hell happened here?" he bellowed. He looked down the hall and spotted Todd peeking his head slightly out of the living room doorway, "TOAD!"

"Um... Ha Ha Hiya, Freddy. Get off work early, huh?"

"Toad, where is Tiffany?" he stalked dangerously towards his young friend.

Todd ducked back into the living room in attempts to escape, but Freddy caught him by the back of the shirt, and lifted him up to where their noses practically touched.

"Where is my daughter, Todd?"

His answer soon came screaming down the hallway and for a split second into the living room.

"!"

She disappeared quicker than Quicksilver and ran into a different part of the house, squealing like a maniac, and knocking stuff over along the way.

Both boys winced at the sounds objects breaking. Freddy slowly turned his head back towards his friend and glared angrily, "You gave her chocolate didn't you?"

"Um... Maybe?"

"Oooh!" he balled up his fist and shook it, "If I wasn't so afraid of seriously hurting you right now, I would sooooo beat you!"

"Eh heh heh Will it help if I told you that I was sorry?"

"Not really."

"Oh..."

"Did you read any of the notes that I left for you at all?"

"Well... Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"Um... I got through the first half, but then I got bored and-" Todd shrunk in fear as Freddy's face grew red with anger, "What are you gonna do to me, yo?"

"I'm not going to do a damn thing." he walked over to the house phone, still holding Todd tightly in his grasp, and began dialing a number.

"Who are you calling, yo? Nobody's up at this time of night."

"I'll give ya a hint. She's too big to be a smurf."

"Wait! What? You're calling mom? What the hell for?"

"Because I'm too angry to do anything to ya and I know she has a much better imagination when it comes to administering punishments than me."

"No! No! No!" Todd tried reaching for the phone, but Freddy held him at arms length, "Please, Freddy! Don't call, mom! I'll do anything! Just don't call her!"

"Hello, Mystique?"

Todd groaned miserabley as Freddy relayed his message and before he knew it Mystique was already at their front door.

"Um... Hi, mom." he gulped nervously.

Freddy walked him over to her and dropped him in her arms, "He's all yours."

"Todd." she put him down and grabbed a hold of his ear, "Freddrick, if you don't mind, I'm going to borrow your study for a bit."

"Go ahead. I'm gonna be trying to catch Tiffany."

"Come along, Todd."

"Ow! Ow! OW! Mom! I told him I was sorry!"

"Yes, and it seems that he hasn't forgiven you yet. But I'm sure he will after I get through with you."

"No! No! Mom! AGH!" she yanked him into the study and slammed the door shut.

Freddy searched the house for Tiffany, following the trail of debris she left behind, until he eventually found her snoozing under the kitchen table with a random chocolate bar in her mouth.

"Oh, thank goodness she's asleep." he picked her up and gently pulled the chocolate bar out of her mouth, "Poor, baby." he carried her up stairs, tried his best to clean her up without waking her, and laid her in her bed. He kissed the top of her head, "Goodnight, kiddo." he left the room and closed the door behind him. He walked down stairs and soon saw Mystique immerging from the study whith Todd right behind her rubbing his back side. Todd's eyes were to the ground when he approached him. Freddy crossed his arms in front on his chest and smirked, "I take it you learned your lesson.?" Todd nodded his head and sniffed a bit, "Good. Now tomorrow you're gonna clean up all of this mess that Tiffany has made. Once I'm satisfied, then I'll officially forgive you. But I think I'm going to let Jean do the baby sitting from now on, at least until you can prove to me that I can trust you with my kid again."

Todd sheepishly looked up at his friend, "I'm sorry, Freddy."

"I know you are, buddy." he looked at Mystique, "Sorry I bothered you, Mystique. I was afraid I was gonna hurt the little guy with as mad as I was."

"I understand, Freddrick. I would be rather crossed too if I found Tiffany in such a state. Now, Todd, do try to be more careful next time. I don't enjoy punishing you, but I will if it is necissary. You do understand, don't you?" she lifted Todd's chin, so that she could look him in the eyes.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good boy." she pulled him into a motherly hug and kissed his forehead, "Now. I must leave. I have a busy day tomorrow. Good night, you two."

"Night, mom."

"Night, Mystique."

Freddy closed the door behind his guardian and turned to head to his room.

Todd chased after him, until he was right next to his friend's side, "Freddy?"

"What, Todd?"

"I really am sorry."

Freddy stopped and turned to face the smaller boy, "Todd, you don't have to appologize anymore. Okay? I know that it was honest mistake and that you aren't going to do it again."

Todd stared down at his feet for a bit, then looked back up into his friend's eyes, "So... You ain't gonna kick me out?"

Freddy blinked, "Why would you think that I would do that?"

"I don't know... It's just... I messed up and-"

"Todd." he placed his hands on both of Todd's shoulders and looked him square in the eye, "It was a mistake. I'm not going to throw you out just because you gave my kid chocolate. I took you in because I wanted you to have a better life than you would at the boarding house. I love you as though you were my own kid brother. Nothing is going to make me abandon you, unless you do something really wrong that could hurt me and my kid. Do you understand?"

"Yeah." Todd's eyes stared at the floor, still feeling guilt and worry for what he had done.

Freddy sighed and pulled him into a hug, "You really need to quit being so hard on yourself."


	11. Temper Tantrums and Tempers Flying About

Chapter 11

Temper Tantrums and Tempers Flying About

For the next few days Todd spent his time trying to clean mess that he let Tiffany make. He didn't have to be told twice not to give her anymore chocolate from now on. He sighed miserably to himself as he continued to wipe the walls.

"Man, this bombs, yo! I'm gonna be at this for forever."

Tiffany, who was supose to be napping, had snuck out of her bed to see what her Uncle Todd was doing. She saw how sad he was and she wanted to help make him feel better. So she crawled her way down the stairs, picked up one of the clean rags that were near by him, squatted down next to him just like him, and began to clean. Todd looked down when he noticed her and she looked up at him, smiling, "I 'elp, unki Todd, so unki Todd no be sad no more."

Todd smirked and ruffled up her hair, "Thanks, kiddo. But shouldn't you be taking a nap right now?"

"No nap! No nap! I wan' to 'elp."

Todd sighed and picked her up, "Sorry, kiddo, but you're gonna take a nap whether you like it or not."

"Nooooooo! No! No! No! I not sweepy!"

"Hey, take it easy, yo. Naps are good for ya. Besides, your pops would kill me if he caught you cleaning my mess instead of napping." he carried the squalling toddler up the stairs and put her back into her bed, "There ya go, Tiff. Now be a good girl and- OW!"

Tiffany had just thrown one her many dolls at Todd's face, she threw a fit, kicking, and screaming, "WAAAAAAAGH! Unki Todd mean!"

She threw a few more of her toys at him that it made him cower and run out of the room. He shut the door and pressed his back up against it, sounds of toys could be heard bouncing off of the bedrom door, "What the hell? That kid is crazy!"

"Something the matter, buddy?" Freddy had just come out of his room yawning, "Why is Tiffany screaming like that?"

"She doesn't want to take her nap."

"Ah." he pushed his friend aside and opened up her door, "Sweetie, daddy wants you to take your nap and- AGH!" he was suddenly bomb barded with a series of toys, followed by the angry screams of his daughter, he slammed the door shut, "What the hell?"

"That's what I said, yo." Todd leaned his back against the opposite wall and scratched his head, "Between the two of you, I don't know who's got the worst temper."

"Ha Ha very funny. Don't you have some walls to clean or somethng?"

"Yeah, Yeah. Keep your pants on." he dismissed his friend with a waving hand as he walked back down the stairs, "You're too sensitive sometimes, yo."

Freddy's face grew slighly red, "Maybe I wouldn't be so sensative if you'd take a shower more often!"

"Hey, at least I up'd my showers to at least once a week!"

"And you still stink! With your job you should shower at least every freakin' day!"

"Bite me!"

"You want me to call Mystique?"

"No! I want you to take a chill pill!"

"Oh, I'm gonna pound you!"

"And take some anger management classes too, ya big ape!"

Freddy rolled up his sleeves and stomped down the stairs, "Come 'ere you!"

Todd turned from his work and his eyes widened when he saw Freddy coming straight for him. "Oh, shit!" he ran to the door and opened it, "Screw you, man! I'm goin' to mom's. I'll come back when you've calmed down." he slammed the door just before Freddy approached him and raced to the boarding house.

Freddy growled as he glared at the door, "Rotten little brat! When he gets home, I'm gonna-"

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I WAN' UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"

Freddy winced at the sounds of Tiffany's screaming, "Oh, for the love of-" he stomped back up the stairs and opened up her bedroom door, "Alright, Tiffany! You're gonna- OW!" a hard toy had hit him squarely in his nose, he held his nose in pain, "Tiffany!" he glared at her, "Tiffany!" he pulled his hand away from his nose and walked towards her, "If you don't stop throwing a fit this instant I'm gonna- I'm gonna-"

"WAAAAAAAAAGH! NO NAP! NO NAP! WAAAAAAAAGH!"

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, "I'm gonna give you a spanking!" Tiffany did not heed his words and he had no choice but to delivery on his threat. He picked her up, turned her over in his hand, and gave her two swats using very little of his strength, then he put her down. When he saw the expression on her face, he immediately felt bad for what he did.

Her little eyes were watery with tears, she sniffled a couple of times, and then let out a sad wail, "WAAAAAAAAAAGH!" she sat down on her bed, holding her tiny fists up to her eyes, "Dah Dah (hic) mean! WAAAAAAGH!"

Freddy's heart broke as heard her cries and couldn't resist the urge to pick her up and hug her. He held her crying form tightly as he stroked her hair, "Shhh Don't cry. Shhh Please, don't cry. I just wanted you to stop hurting me and I wanted you to take your nap. That's all. Daddy's sorry that he hurt ya. Please, stop crying, baby?"

Her cries stifled to sniffles and she laid her head on his chest, "Dah Dah..."

"Shhhh" he sat down and held her until she fell asleep in his arms. Once asleep, he kissed the top of her head, and tucked her into her bed, "Man!" he scratched the back of his head, "This dad stuff is gonna be harder than I thought." he left the room and went down stairs. He was about to sit down when he heard a knock at the door. "What is it now?" he opened the door to see an unhappy Mystique with her arms crossed and Todd standing right behind her.

"Mystique." he gave Todd a dark look, "Todd."

"Freddy." Todd returned the dark look, "You still acting like a pissy ass hole?"

"It depends. You still acting like a smart ass?"

"Enough!" Mystique got in between the two, "Todd, get inside. Now!"

"Yes, ma'am." he didn't need to be told twice.

She glared at Freddy, who stepped aside, and let her in. He closed the door behind them and sat down in the living room recliner, staring at Mystique and Todd, who both sat down on the couch. He sighed miserably, still feeling angry at Todd, "So, what happened, Toad? Mystique couldn't handle your little attitude either?"

"Quiet, Freddrick. I'm here, because I'm concerned about you and Todd. I know that you boys have had many arguements back in the day and normaly handled it in a rough manner, but things are different now. You have a child now and you cannot continue to act this way."

"But he-"

"Silence! Tiffany is still very young and is very quick to pick up on things. Such as your violent behaviors and temper. You two are her roll models now, act like it!" she waited for their response, but none was recieved. She sighed, pushing her glasses further up onto her nose, "You two are friends. Practically brothers. Are you two really going to let a silly little grudge get in the way of your friendship?"

"No." they both said in unison.

"I am glad to hear that." she waited for the two of them to speak, but they were still silent, "Well? Don't you two have something to say to one another?"

They were hesitant and still angry, but they both spoke at the same time, "Sorry."

She shook her head and sighed, "Well, it's not perfect, but it's a start. I'm going back home now to get some much needed rest."

"Mom, can I-"

"No, Todd. You need to stay here with Freddrick and work things out."

"But I-"

"Enjoy the rest of the day you two. Oh, and Freddrick, please do try to control that temper of yours. It could get someone seriously hurt one of these days if your not careful." she opened the front door and closed it behind.

Freddy quickly got up and followed, "Mystique wait!"

She stopped in her tracks and rolled her eyes, "What is it now, Freddrick?

He walked right up to her, holding a somewhat sad expression, "Um... I just need some advice is all."

"Oh?" she put her hand on her hip, "About what?"

"Well..." he sighed and looked down, "I-I just want to know if I was wrong about something. Tiffany had been pretty much throwing a temper tantrum before me and Todd had our little tiff and I couldn't get her to stop. So I-I spanked her, but I didn't do it very hard I don't think. I feel really bad about it. I know I could have probably gone a different route, but... I was so mad with Todd and how she kept throwing her toys at me so violently. Does what I did make me a bad parent?"

She put her hand on the side of his face and caressed his cheek, "Oh, Freddrick. It's hard to say really. With some people, they'd probably say that you were being nothing more than a brute, but then others would say you did the right thing."

"What do you say, Mystique?"

"I personally believe that sometimes a child needs that kind of discipline when words have no affect. Tiffany was acting out in a violent manner in which you got hurt repeatedly, when you couldn't reach her, you had to act on your last resort. Which got her to stop. Am I right?"

"Yeah. But you should have seen her face-"

"I've seen that reaction before in my own children, Freddrick. It breaks my heart too to think that they'll hate me for forever for spanking them. But I'll tell you this. When you spank a child as young as her, you don't really go for the pain, but mainly for hurting their feelings."

"What?" he blinked, "Hurting their feelings? But isn't that kind of mental abuse?"

"And isn't spanking them a kind of physical abuse as well?"

"Yeah, but... It just don't sound right."

"I know it's hard, but sometimes it just has to be done. It's a means to keep them from repeating the same act over and over again."

"And if it doesn't work and they just keep on doing it, what then?"

"Then you try other methods. You could always try putting her in time outs or sitting her in the corner. Sometimes those work. Just don't ever starve a child or hit them out of anger. That takes a heavy toll on them and makes them fear you more than respect you. I've seen many parents who've done it to their own kids and they never really turn out with a normal mentality as most."

"I see. So... Do you think Tiffany hates me right now?"

"By no means. I believe that she still loves her daddy very much. She may be confused as to why you struck her, but I believe in time she will come to understand. You will just have to try and explain things to her that some of the things that she does is bad and hurtful. Especially as she gets older. It's going to be a learning process for the both of you."

"Thank you, Mystique."

"You're quite welcome, Freddrick." she gave him a kiss on the cheek and hugged him, "If you ever have anymore question or need someone to talk to, you know where to find me. Alright?"

"Alright."

"Good bye, Freddrick." she left him standing on his front lawn as she climbed into her car and drove away.

Feel a little bit better, he went back inside, and searched for Todd who had gone back to cleaning the walls. "Hey." he said.

"Yo." said Todd, not looking up from his chore.

Freddy got down next to him, picked up a rag, and began helping him.

"Thought you wanted me to do this, yo."

"Yeah, well. You've been at this for at least a week. I think you've learned your lesson."

"Gee thanks." Todd said sarcastically, "Glad to know that you think I'm a slow learner."

"I didn't mean it that way, Todd."

"I know." the small boy lowered his rag, "I'm just still kinda sore about this morning is all. Doesn't help that I got hit in the face with some of your kid's toys."

"Yeah, well you ain't the only she nailed. She got me in the nose with one of her building blocks. Hurt like hell."

"And here I thought nothng could hurt "The Blob"." Todd laughed at his little joke.

Freddy smirked, "Well apparently my nose is the most sensitve part of my body."

"Mental note to self." Todd pretended to write on an imaginary note pad, "Hit Freddy in nose for quick get away."

"Why you little-" he grabbed Todd and put him in a head lock.

"Hey! Hey! I was just joking!"

"Oh, really? Well, hear's a joke for ya. What is short and smelly and has a wet ear?" he stuck his large finger in his mouth and gave Todd the wet willy of a life time, "You!"

"Gah! Hey, no fair! Stop it! Stop it! Come on, man!"

Freddy let go of him and laughed. After a few moments, he became serious again, "Hey, I know that I already said it when Mystique was her, but I wanna say it again and really mean it. I'm really sorry for losing my temper like that. I know I should be getting mad that easily, especially now, but old habits die hard. Ya know?"

"Yeah, I know whatcha mean. It's been kinda hard for me not to pick any pockets or steal stuff on a daily basis since we got this place, yo. Anyways, I forgive ya. As long as you can forgive me for being such a smart ass."

"You got a deal."

By the end of the day the boys got the walls cleaned with the help of Tiffany, who had woken up from her nap shortly after they had made their appaulogies to one another. And to celebrate, they all went out of pizza.


	12. The Confessions of Lance and Freddy

Chapter 12

The Confessions of Lance and Freddy

A month had past and everything was going well for Freddy, Todd, and Tiffany.

The boys had the night off and were spending a quiet night in their house. Freddy had already put Tiffany to bed and Todd had just got done taking his daily shower. They were about to turn in for the night, when the sounds of rapid thumping turned their attention to their front door.

"Who hell is knockin' at our door at this hour, yo?" said Todd, stopping half way up with stairs with a towl wrapped around his waist.

"Dunno." Freddy walked over to the door, the sounds becoming more rapid, and more louder, "Alright! You can stop with the knocking, I'm comin' already!"

"That's what she said, yo." Todd chuckled.

"Todd, I swear I'll-" the knocking became louder and Freddy had just about ripped the door off of it's hinges, "WILL YOU STOP WITH THE KNOCKING?"

What he saw made his eyes go wide and his jaw drop. Kitty and Jean were standing in the rain, holding a battered and bloody Lance, who was resting on the both of them.

"Freddy! Lance needs help!" Kitty exclaimed, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Get him inside." he stepped aside for the three of them, closing the door behind them, and lead them over to the sofa, "Tell me what happened."

Kitty was so overwelmed with tears that Jean had her go fetch a wet wash cloth and disinfectants for Lance.

As she left, Jean answered his question, "Lance had been acting really weird for quite some time and it's got Kitty really worried. She's been trying to get him to talk to her, but he shrugs her off and avoids her. Sometimes, when we're on the battlefield he acts really distracted and gets real sloppy with fight. He loses to Scott worse than usual. And to make matters worse, he got into a really bad fist fight at the bar. Kitty called me to help her to get him out of there, but we couldn't get him out without using our powers. He wouldn't even let us take him home. We couldn't think of anywhere else to take him, but here. I'm really sorry it's so late, Freddy, but we were desperate!"

Freddy pulled her into a hug to calm her down, "Shhhh It's okay. You did the right thing by bringin' him here."

Jean froze in his embrace, but relaxed, "Thanks, Freddy." she hugged him back, "Do you think you can find out what's been bothering him? You might have better luck than Kitty. I don't really want to use my powers to pry, otherwise our rocky friendship will become even more rockier."

"I'll see what I can do." he pulled away from her, got a chair, and sat down next to his friend. "Lance? Lance, can ya here me, buddy?"

Lance's eyes fluttered open at the sounds of someone talking to him. He was disoriented and felt very sick. When he tried to move he was instantly stopped by a large meaty hand pressin down against his chest. "Wha-What's going on? Where-Where am I?"

"Your at my house, Lance. The girls brought ya here."

Lance looked around, spotted Jean, but saw no signs of Kitty, "Where's Kitty?"

"Gettin' ya a couple of things to fix ya right up. She'll be back in a bit. Wanna tell us why you been avoiding your girl and gettin' into fights?"

Lance turned his head away from his friend and did not speak.

"Lance?"

Still he did not speak.

Freddy sighed, "Come on, man. Speak to us. We're all really worried about ya."

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't concern you guys."

Freddy frowned, "Like hell it doesn't!" he forced Lance to look at him, "You have people that care about you and are willing to jump through hoops of fire fo ya. But alls you seem to wanna do lately is mope around and get yourself hurt. You think we wanna see you get hurt? To see you like this?" Lance tried to look away, but Freddy forced his eyes to meet his own, "Answer me dammit!"

Lance slapped Freddy's hand away and forced himself up, "Back the fuck off, Fred!" he held his side, as he tried to walk away, "I don't need to explain myself to any of you!" he tried to leave, but the sight of Kitty standing before him with tears in her eyes made him stop. "Kitty..."

She clutched the wet cloth tightly in her hands, the water from it dripped onto the carpet, "Lance." she sniffed, "Please, talk to us! To me. I'm worried about you."

"Kitty..." he put his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her forehead, "I'm just going through some stuff right now and I need to go through it alone. Okay?"

She jerked herself away and stamped her foot, "No! It's not okay, Lance! You've been acting weird all month and like you've been doing crazier stuff than normal. You almost got yourself killed in that bar tonight too! What were you doing there in the first place? You're not even 21! You could've like died!"

"But I didn't-"

"But you could've! The way you've been acting... It almost seems like you want to die and it scares me. What's going on? Please, tell me!"

Lance was about say something, but sound of a small voice made him fall silent.

"Dah Dah?" Tiffany was standing at the foot of the stairs, rubbing her eyes, "I can't sweep."

"Dammit!" Freddy cursed quietly, he shot Lance and Kitty an angry glare, "Thanks a lot you two, now it'll take me forever to get her to go back to sleep." he went over to his daughter and picked her up, "Hey, sweetie. You need to be asleep now, okay?" she wrapped her small arms around his neck and snuggled her face into him, "That's a good girl. Just go back to sleep." he rubbed her back and walked around with her until he was she she had fallen asleep and then handed her to Todd, "Hey, man. Can you put her back to bed for me, since you're already half way there?"

"Sure. No problem, yo." Todd carefully took her and dissapeared upstairs.

Freddy turned back around, he wanted to yell at Lance, but the sad look on his face told Freddy everything, "Lance? This is all about your kid, ain't it?"

Lance's head shot up and he narrowed his eyes, "Shut up!"

"You have a kid?" Kitty shrieked, "Why didn't you-"

"Kitty, if you wake up my kid again, I'm gonna throw you outside!"

"Sorry, Freddy." she said in a hushed voice.

"Why don't we all take this into the kitchen." suggested Jean, "That way we won't risk waking Tiffany up again."

They all agreed and followed. Kitty and Lance sat down at the table, while Freddy and Jean stood. They were quiet for a long while, until Todd popped in, fully dressed. He sensed the tension in the air and knew what it was, since he could hear them yelling from the other end of the house.

"So... Uh..." Todd cleared his throat, "Anybody hungry?"

No one answered, but Freddy and Jean seemed to think food was a good idea. Together they worked on whipping up something for everyone to eat. They had made speggetti and meatballs and some kool aid to wash it all down. Everyone ate quietly, until they were done.

Kitty was the one to break the silence, "So... You have a kid?"

Lance stared at his glass, rotating it as he spoke, "Use to."

"Use to? Like, what happened?"

Lance did not say anything, he just stared at his glass.

"Lance, please? I want to know."

"But I don't want you to know. I never wanted anyone to know."

"You told Freddy about it. Why couldn't you tell me?"

"I told Freddy to help him to make the right decision and he did." he looked up and gave Freddy an approving nod, then went back to looking at his glass, "But I didn't want you to know, because not many girls would go for a guy who had a kid with another woman."

"I suppose your right... But, even if I did know that you had a kid... I would have still gone out with you."

He pulled his gaze away from the glass and looked Kitty in the eyes, "Can you honestly say that or are you just saying that to make me feel better?"

"I-I-" she sighed and looked away, "I guess I really don't know. I just want you to be honest with me and to trust me with this sort of stuff." she reached over and grasped the hand that was holding the glass, then looked up at him with watery eyes, "I know we fight on different sides and for different things, but the way we feel about each other will always be the same. If I am willing to stay with you when we are suppose to be enemies, don't you think I'd have the strength to stay with you when you are the father of someone elses child?" he didn't answer, but he did let go of the glass and grasp her hand, "I love you, Lance. No matter what you did in your past or what happens, I will always love you. I hope you feel the same way about me and will let me in a bit more." she moved her chair closer to him and wrapped her arms arms him, resting her head on his shoulder, "Please, don't push me away. I don't want to lose you."

The others watched as Lance reached over and stroked Kitty's hair with his free hand. He could not bring himself to look at her or at anyone else now. A tear rolled down his cheek and he swallowed hard as he tried to speak, "I-I had a son... His name was Kyle. I was 15 and his mother was 17." he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, "He was born with a mental handicap and his mom didn't want him, but I did. I didn't want my kid to be abandoned by his parents like I was. I did everything I could to keep him and make him happy. Even though I knew he wouldn't be able to do the things that any normal person could, I still took care of him, and loved him. Being a dad... It-It was the greatest thing in my life that I could ever ask for. I was abel to give back to someone who didn't take advantage of me and who didn't want anything other than my love in return. I wanted to give him everything. I would never have joined the Brotherhood if..." his body began to shake and a stream of tears rolled down his cheeks. Kitty hugged him tighter, letting him know that she was still there. He did everything he could to control his emotions, but the flood that was within him could no longer be contained, "Why'd it have to happen? He was only a baby! Why?" Kitty had pulled him closer, so that he could hold onto her. He desperately clung to her, crying, and shaking, "I couldn't save him... I couldn't..."

"Shhhhh" she rubbed his back and did all she could to help him calm down, "I'm here, Lance. I'm here. Shhhh"

"He had just turned two and he got really sick... I tried taking him to the doctors, but those bastards wouldn't even look at him! Just because I was a teenage dad and couldn't afford medical insurance for him, I-I had to watch my baby boy suffer and die in my arms in the waiting room. Why'd it have happen? Why? He didn't deserve to suffer like that! He was just a baby!"

Kitty and the others cried for him. It was very sad and very cruel what the doctors had done. No one knew how to help Lance. The only thing that they could do was gather around him and give him a big group hug to show their support. No one let go for a long, while, not until they were sure that Lance would be alright. At that time, Lance was drained physically and emotionally, he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep. He allowed Kitty to clean him up and to help him make his way to the spare bed room to sleep for the night. He had asked her to stay with him and she complied, by laying with him until they were both asleep. Jean had checked on them to see what was taking Kitty so long, she wasn't surprised to see them laying together, and she wasn't about to disturb them.

Jean went back into the Kitchen and sat with the others, "Well, it looks like we'll be staying the night. Kitty and Lance are passed out upstairs and I don't want to leave without Kitty. Would it be alright if I crashed on your couch?"

"Naw, I couldn't put you on the couch. You go ahead and take my bed. I'll sleep downstairs tonight."

"I couldn't do that, Freddy."

"I insist." he smiled gently.

"Thank you, Freddy." she returned the smile and grasped his hand, "You are a kind man and a true friend. I can see why the others are so fond of you."

Freddy blushed at her touch and his heart skipped a beat, "Uh... Thanks." his smile became askewed and he turned a slightly deeper red, "So are you. Scott's a real lucky guy to have someone who is as beautiful and caring as you to stand by his side."

Jean's smile faded and she pulled her hand away from Freddy's, "I think we've had enough drama for one night. Let's not add anymore tonight."

"Sorry, Jean." he looked down, "I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, Freddy. I shouldn't have snapped at you. Let's just forget that anything was said. Okay?"

"Okay, Jean."

Todd felt the tension between the two and decided to give them their space. He gave them one last look before heading straight to bed.

Jean and Freddy shortly followed his example. Both laid in their respective sleeping places, unable to fall asleep. Jean stared at the ceiling, clutching the covers to her chest; she held a very painful look on her face. Freddy sat up for quite some time. His old feelings for her had resurfaced, but this time he was unsure of what to do. Niether of them got any sleep that night.

When morning came Freddy was already up and making breakfast for everyone. One by one the others came down. He served them their breakfast and they all ate quietly.

It was later decided that Jean and Kitty would take Lance back to the X-Mansion to have some private therapy sessions with Proffessor X in dealing with his past pains. As they began to leave, Freddy caught Jeans hand as she was half way out of the door.

"Freddy? Something the matter?"

"It's just um... I want you to know that you're welcome here anytime. If you ever need a place to stay, there's always an extra room."

"Freddy..." she stared into his eyes, then looked away, "Thank you, Freddy, but I don't think that would be such a good idea. We have two very different lives. You're a family man now and I'm... I'm involved in a man's dream that could very well hurt you and your daughter. If something should happen and you two got hurt, then I would never be able to forgive myself."

"I understand." he held onto her hand and searched her eyes.

She adverted her eyes to the floor, "Please, don't look at me that way, Freddy. It makes me feel uncomfortable."

"I'm sorry." he let go of her hand and moved closer to her.

"What are you doing?" she froze when his hand reached up to touch her cheek, "Please, don't! I-"

He held her face, leaned down, and gave her a light kiss on the lips. When he pulled away, he stared into her eyes, and caressed her cheek, "I'm sorry. I know that you're with Scott and all, but I just had to let you know how I feel about you. I'm not good with words, ya know?" Jean's face burned hot as she stared into his eyes, "I know that a girl like you could never go for a guy like me, but... I just had to at least try. The offer is still on the table if you ever need a place to stay. I promise I won't try anything when you're here. I will still respect you and care for you as a friend. I hope we can still be that."

Jean's heart skipped a beat and she backed away, "I-I'll come by tomorrow to watch Tiffany as planned. See you later, Freddy." she turned with her face scarlet red and climbed into the car with the others.

Kitty and Lance stared at her for a bit, but neither of them said anything.

Freddy stood in the doorway and watched them leave. When they were gone, he went back inside, and closed the door behind him. He leaned against the door and shook his head, "I'm such an idot!"

"Idots are those who don't do anything, yo." Freddy looked up and saw Todd sitting at the top of the stairs.

"How long have you been sitting there?"

"Long enough. That was a pretty bold thing that ya did, yo."

"I wish I hadn't... I think that was the worst thing that I could've done."

"Naw, it's not the worst. You could've kidnapped her again and forced her to like ya, like last time."

"Don't remind me."

"Hey, I'm just tryin' to help, yo."

"I know. But I doubt Jean's ever gonna come back here again. Not after that."

"I dunno. It sounded like she still planned on comin' by tomorrow. So not all's lost."

"Yeah, whatever." Freddy went to the kitchen and made himself a sandwich.

Todd hopped in after him and perched himself on the counter, "Come on, yo. Don't get yourself down because of one innocent little kiss. If it makes any difference, she didn't stop ya."

"Yeah, probably because she was afraid I'd hurt her."

"More like, I think she really wanted ya."

"Seriously, Toad. What girl in their right mind would want a fat tub o' lard like me? I ain't exactly what you call the prize pig at the county fair."

"Sometimes looks just don't matter to a girl, yo."

"An' what about Wanda, huh? You worship the ground she walks on and she still rejects ya."

"Ouch, yo. Ouch."

"I'm sorry, Todd. I didn't mean that."

"I know, yo. But I know you're right too. I know no matter how much I try, Wanda will never like me. But at least I tried and that makes me happy. Kinda like how you tried with Jean. Only the way you two are is a hell of a lot different than me and Wanda."

"I dunno, man."

"Would it make you feel any better if I went over to Xaviers and slimed all of one eye's clean underware?"

Freddy chuckled and shook his head, "Naw. He ain't worth it. I guess, I'll just be happy if Jean decides to stay my friend."

"That's the spirt, yo! Now, how's about we go out for chinese? I'm feeling like an all you can eat buffet today."

"Alright, man. Lemme go get Tiffany ready and we can go."


	13. The Break Up

Chapter 13

The Break Up

Jean came by as promised the next morning. She had said very little to Freddy that day. Anytime he had tried to look at her, she would turn away, and avoid him. Freddy knew why she was avoiding him and he didn't push the subject. He simply spoke to her when he felt it was needed and then went off to work.

Todd was the only person left in the house besides Jean and Tiffany. He had watched the behavior between the two and for a while he stayed quiet out of respect for their privacy. He had noticed that Jean was rather aggitated and had been recieving many text messeges and phone calls which she had silenced. When she dissapeared to go to the bathroom, Todd couldn't help but be a bit nosey. He pulled out her cell phone and looked at it's history. She had recieved 20 text messeges and had 10 voice mail messeges, all of which were from Scott. He didn't bother listening to the voice mail for fear that he would get caught, so he took a glimsp at all of the text messeges that had already been open. When he heard her returning footstep he quickly put her phone back and pretended to watch tv.

For the rest of the day, Jean spent as much time as she could with Tiffany to keep her mind at ease. She loved the little girl very much and Tiffany loved her just as much as well. Try as she might, she couldn't get Tiffany to stop calling her Mama.

"Mama, I hungry."

Jean sighed and shook her head, "Sweetie, how many time do I have to tell you? I'm Jean. I may look like your Mama, but I'm not her."

Tiffany scruntched her face, not wanting to accept what Jean had said, "No. You Mama."

"No. It's Jean."

"Mama!"

"Jean!"

"Mama!"

"It's no use, Red." said Todd, who was leaning over the couch, "She's gonna see you as her Mama for a very looooong time."

Jean sighed defeatedly and leaned back on her arms, "I just don't feel right about it is all."

"I know. But the kid misses her mom-"

"And she associating my looks to replace what she has lost. It may seem innocent now, but what happens when she gets older, and she starts realizing that she's been calling the wrong woman mom? It'll break her little heart."

"I know how ya feel, Red, but that's a part of life. Tiffany may be young, but she's also very forgiving. I think she'll still like ya even after she realizes that your not her mom."

"I suppose your right, Todd. But I still don't feel right about it. I feel like I'm lying to her everytime I watch her."

"Shit happens."

Jean grabbed Tiffany and covered her ears, "For the love of God, Todd, watch your langauge!"

"Hey, I've only cussed around her a couple of times and she ain't repeated any of it."

"Shit! Shit!" Tiffany giggled joyously.

Jean glared up at Todd and he gulped, "Up until now that is. Heh Heh Please, don't tell Freddy or Mystique?"

Freddy came home later that night. He plopped down on the couch and stretched out his legs, he closed his eyes, and groaned from the days work.

"Dah Dah!"

He felt his daughter jump up on his lap and hug him.

"Hey, sweetie. What are you still doing up? It's way past your bed time."

"She wanted tell you goodnight before going to bed." Jean said as she walked into the living room. She leaned against the doorway with her arms folded in front of her chest, smiling as she saw how happy Tiffany was, "I didn't have the heart to tell her no. I hope you're not mad."

"Ain't no big deal." he kissed his daughter and smiled up his friend, "It's always good to come home to people that love me."

"You're a lucky man, Freddy." she leaned down and picked up her back pack.

"You leavin' already?"

"Yeah." she looked very distant.

"Jean. Are you okay?"

"I've just had a lot on my mind is all. It's nothing to worry about. Really." Freddy was about to say something, but she had already left the room, "I'll see you later, Freddy. Bye."

He pinched his nose and groaned, "Man! I should have never kissed her."

"The kiss ain't what eatin' her, yo." Todd popped in and sat down next to him.

"It ain't? Then what?"

"One eye's been giving her greif about her spending more time with us than with the X-Men. But I think it's more abut him than the rest of the team."

"How d'ya know that?"

"I kinda snooped through her phone."

"Toad!"

"Hey, don't get mad! I was worried just like you. Okay? Mister Stick Up His Butt woudn't stop calling or texting her all day. She almost went home early because of that crap."

"Great. Just great. It's bad enough that I can't win the girl of my dreams, but her boyfriend is trying to take away my friendship with her."

"Could be worse."

"Yeah, it could be. I'm gonna put Tiffany to bed and get some sleep myself. They're making me work a double shift tomorrow."

"Damn, yo. You really need to slow down with this job of yours. I know you're invulnerable and all, but if ya work yourself to hard, your gonna have a heart attack or a stroke, or somethin'."

"I wish I could, Toad. I really do, but I gotta do what I gotta do to pay the bills, and to keep social services offa my back."

"You could always look for another job, yo."

"Let's not talk about this tonight. I'm already in a sour mood as it is and I don't want to make things worse."

"Sorry, yo. I'm just tryin' to help."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, buddy. G'night." with that he got up and dissapeared upstairs for the rest of the night.

Todd sighed, scratching the back of his head; he couldn't think of anything to do other than go after Jean. He had at first headed for the mansion, but he caught sight of her walking through the park. He hopped through the trees, keeping an eye on her from a far, but then he stopped when he saw a very familiar boy with red shades approach her. He couldn't make out what they were saying, so he dared to get closer. He crouched in the tree above them and listened quietly.

"You didn't answer any of my calls, Jean. Why have you been avoiding me?"

"Please, Scott... I'm tired. Let's talk about this later." she attempted to leave, but he caught her hand.

"No. We need to talk about this. You've been avoiding me and your responsibilites to the team. You act as though you don't care about what we fight for anymore. About us."

She jerked her hand away from his and faced him again, "I haven't been avoiding anythng! I've been helping Freddy by watching Tiffany."

"Oh, yeah, like that's a good excuse."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly how it sounds, Jean. You're using his kid as an excuse to spend time with him."

"For you're information, Scott Summers, I rarely get to see him except for before he goes to work and after he comes home. When in his busy schedule does he have time to spare for me?"

"Who's to say he doesn't make time?"

"You better not by insinuating what I think you mean."

"Come one, Jean. Let's face it. Ever since he quit the Brotherhood and became a family man, you've bee drawn to him more and more. The way your eyes light up when you talk about him and his kid is completely obvious."

"I've never cheated on you with him."

"Then why did you let him kiss you?"

Her eyes grew wide and she took a step back, "Who told you that?"

"No one. I over her Kitty and Lance talking about it. I also heard them say that it seemed like you didn't want him to stop."

Jean cursed under her breath and made mental note to kill those two, "It was just an innocent kiss, Scott, nothing more."

"For now at least. Next thing you know he'll have your pants and panties off and be in between your legs."

At those words Jean slapped him extremely hard, knocking him to the ground. She stood over her with her fists clenched, "You just shut up! You think you know me, but you don't. You don't know how I feel or what I want..."

He quickly got back up to his feet and got in her face, "Then tell me! Tell me so we can stop fighting and go back to the way the way thing were before he decided to turn over a so called new leaf."

Tears of anger swelled in her eyes, her emotions were high, and all of their surroundings that were not rooted to the ground floated in mid-air.

"I am so sick and tired of you and your attitude! You turn your nose up at anyone who has had a shade past and don't give a rats ass no matter how hard they try to fix things. You're a jealous, over baring, ass hole, and I'm sick of it! We're through, Scott Summers!"

He was angry, so angry that he couldn't control the next words that came out of his mouth, "Fine! I don't want to be the boyfriend of a two-timing whore anyways!"

"OOOOOH!" she stamped her foot and used her powers to send him flying smack dab into a tree, where he laid unconscious. She stomped away and headed deeper into the wooded area of the park.

Todd waited until she was out of sight, then hopped down from his hiding place, and over to Scott's unconscious form. He snagged Scott's wallet, took all of the cash that he was carrying, and pocketed it. "Consider this a collectors fee for being such an asshole to your girl, yo." he tossed the wallet in Scott's lap and kicked some dirt up in his face, "Oh, and by the way. Dispite what you think, even us shadey people deserve a second chance, yo." he hopped away and continued to follow Jean. If anything, he wanted to make sure that there were no late night stalkers roaming around the woods. He followed her till she stopped in the middle of the bridge that hovered above the parks slowing stream. She leaned against the railing and held her face in her hands, unable to hold in her emotions any longer. He stood in the shadows for a while, unsure of what to do. Slowly he walked up to her and placed a supporting hand on her shoulder. She jumped at his touch, but when she saw that it was him, she did not pull away.

"Hey, you okay?" she shook her head, her body shaking. He rubbed her back, "You want me to walk ya home?"

"I don't want to go home... Not when I know he's going to be there."

"You want to come back to the house, then? We still have that spare bedroom available." she sniffed and nodded her head, "Okay." he put his arm around her and led her away from the bridge, "Let's go." he walked her back to the house.

Freddy woke up to the sounds of their movement and he poked his head out of his room to see Todd walking Jean to the spare bedroom. They said their good nights and Todd left her to head to his room, but he stopped when he saw Freddy.

"What's goin' on, Todd? I thought she went home?"

Todd looked back at her door, then back at his friend, "She was just a little more tired than she thought she was. So she's gonna spend the night."

Freddy sensed that his friend wasn't telling him the truth, but he didn't push it, "Okay. I guess I'll see you guys in the morning then."

"Yeah. G'night, Freddy."

"Night."


	14. Wipe Away Your Tears Cause Freddy's Here

Chapter 14

Wipe Away Your Tears Cause Freddy's Here

**Author's note: **Okay, I wanted to let you all know that I threw in a song in my fan fic to make things interesting. I do not own the song or the rights to it. I just wanted to use it, b/c I like the song and I couldn't resist using it for the little tid bit below. The song I am using is "**Bad Girlfriend**" by **Theory of a Deadman**. Like I said, I do not own this song or the band. lolz So please, don't get mad at me or sue me for that matter. Lord knows I'm broke as hell. I think cockroaches have more money that me. J/K Anyways, I made this chapter extra long or at least it feels extra long on my end. I made it extra long so you all could enjoy. Thank you all for being such supportive and dedicated readers. I'll make sure to add more chapters later on. On that note, enjoy!

Jean awoke the next morning feeling drained and more tired than she was suppose to feel. She sat up and winced as she felt a surge of pain flow right through her head.

"Ow!" she moaned, holding her head, "Why do I always have head aches right after fighting with Scott?"

"Maybe it's because he's just one big walking head ache waiting to happen, yo." Todd chuckled from her door way, he was holding a large tray of food, and had a glass of water and some pills with it.

"Don't tell me that large tray of food is all for me? I don't think I can eat all of that!"

He laid the tray down on a stand in front of her, chuckling, "Unfortunately. Freddy kinda got carried away."

"I'll say." she picked up a piece of bacon and took a bite, "I'll try to eat as much of this as I can. "

"Just don't make yourself sick, yo. He's already worried enough about ya as it is."

"Worried about me? Why?"

"He thinks your mad at him about that kiss. Ya've been kinda avoiding him since it happened."

"Oh. I didn't mean to- I just-"

"Hey." he gently lifted her chin up so he could look her in the eyes and he spoke in a soft, kind voice, "It's not me who you should be tellin' this to. The guy that you're lookin' for is down stairs about to head out for work." Jean let out a small gasp, she looked past Todd, and at open doorway. Todd stepped to the side and nodded towards the doorway, "Go on. I bet he'll be more than happy to be a little late for work just for you two to talk things out."

She stood up and smiled, "Thank you, Todd." she gave his shoulder a friendly touch, then headed downstairs.

There she saw Freddy knelt down tying his shows and Mystique holding Tiffany. All three of them heard her coming and they all looked up. Freddy and Tiffany smiled up at her, but Mystique kept a cold and menicing glare on her.

Jean stopped at the foot of the stairs, holding her hands in front of her, "Good morning, everyone. Freddy? Would it be alright if we spoke for a moment? That is if you still have time before you leave for work?"

"Sure, Jean. I can make a little bit of time for you."

"Freddrick. I don't think that's-"

"It's alright, Mystique. I've always been a little early for work, so I think they can cut me a little slack for being a little late just this once."

Mystique sighed, "Alright. If that is what you wish. I'll go on ahead and take Tiffany with me over to Ireane's. If you need anything just give me a call." she gave Jean one last menicing glare, before leaving the house. "Good day to you, Miss Grey."

Once Mystique and Tiffany were gone, Jean approached Freddy, she stood about a foot away from him, "Thank you, Freddy."

"Hey, it's no big deal, Jean. You know I'd do anything or my friends." he scratched his head and laugh, but he became serious and concerned when he saw Jean's sad expression, "Whoa! Are you okay, Jean?"

"I'm fine. I just- I just want to talk about us right now."

"Us?"

"Yes. I've been avoiding you because of that kiss you gave me and... I'm sorry. It was very cruel of me to do so."

"Jean." he cupped the side of her face, "Forget it. I don't blame you for doing what you did. All's that matters is that your here now and are still my friend."

"Freddy..." she touched the hand that cupped her face and closed her eyes, "Thank you."

He smiled and gently pulled her towards him, embracing her. She was afraid at first, but when she felt the warmth of his body she calmed down, and returned the embrace. A tear rolled down her cheek and she buried her face into his chest.

"Jean? Why are you crying?"

"I'm not!" she squeezed him tighter and buried her face deeper.

"Yes you are. Now, come on. Why don't you tell ol' Freddy what's wrong?"

She looked up into his kind, caring eyes, then looked down, "I had a fight with Scott last night and I broke up with him." her body shook in his arms.

"Oh, Jean."

"He said so many aweful things... He even called me a two timing whore!"

"What? That jerk! Why?"

"He thinks that I've been cheating on him with you. I tried to tell him I wasn't, but he- he just wouldn't listen. He never listens!"

"Well, then screw him! If he can't trust an honest girl like you, then doesn't deserve you!"

"What?"

He pulled her away from, held her shoulders, and looked her in the eyes, "I mean it, Jean. I have never met a girl who is more honest, more trustworthy, kind, and caring as you. If Scott would rather believe otherwise, then it is his loss. You deserve so much better than him, Jean."

"Really?"

"Really." he grinned and winked at her, "Like the old saying goes: "There's plenty more fish in the sea."

"Oh, Freddy." she smiled and hugged him again, "Thank you."

He chuckled and stroked her long red hair, "You don't have to thank me. I'm just telling you the truth."

"You're a sweet guy, Freddy." she giggled, "I'm glad to have you as my friend."

"Yeah. Same goes for me too."

"Hey, Freddy!" Todd called from a top of the stairs, "You better get goin', you're already 30 minutes late for work."

"Oops! I guess I better, huh? See ya later, guys."

Todd and Jean waved their goodbye and watched Freddy leave.

Todd hopped down from a top the stairs and landed next to Jean, "Well, that went well."

"Yeah. I did."

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"Hmm I'll probably have to go back to the mansion. The other's are all probably worried about me, since I didn't come home last night."

"You know Scott will probably be there."

"I know... But I can't keep avoiding him. He is a team mate after all."

"True. Just remember, that just because he's your team mate and team leader, you don't have to take any of his jealous ex-boyfriend bullshit. And if he does anythin' to make ya cry again" he held up his arm and flexed, winking, "me and Freddy will wipe the floor with him."

"I'll keep that in mind." she giggled, "Well, I gotta go. I'll see you later, Todd."

"Later, Jean."

Jean grabbed her backpack and left. She headed straight for home. Kitty and Lance were the first ones to greet her. Lance had just finished his morning therapy session with Xavier and was spending time with Kitty.

"Jean!" Kitty jumped off of the front porch and rushed up to Jean, hugging her, "Hey! We were all worried about you when you didn't come home last night. Like what happened and where wre you?"

Lance stuck him hands in his pockets and walked up, "She was probably staying over at Freddy's house, Kitty. He does work pretty late after all."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about those odd hours that he works."

"Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to worry everybody. Uh... Scott isn't home by chance, is he?"

Kitty and Lance looked at eachother and then at Jean.

Kitty shook her head, "No one has seen him since last night. He was suppose to be out looking for you."

"Phew."

Lance looked behind the girls and pointed, "Speak of the devil, here he comes now, and he doesn't look too happy."

Kitty and Jean turned around to see a dirt covered Scott storming up the drive way.

"He's so dirty! Like, what has he doing all night?"

"Playing in the dirt it looks like."

Scott spotted Jean and the others as he made his way up the driveway. He narrowed his eyes at Jean, he wanted so much to yell at her right now, but he was too angry to say anything comprehendable. As he walked by them, he sneered at Jean, and shot her an angry glare before dissapearing into the house.

"Judging from that nasty look on his face, it looks like he found you last night, Jean." Lance smirked.

"Yeah... Unfortunately." Jean looked down at the ground.

"Like, what happened last night, Jean?"

Jean looked at Kitty with sad eyes, "I broke up with him."

"What?" Kitty's mouth dropped.

"Ha Ha About time!"

Lance, you jerk!" Kitty punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! Sorry, Kitty. You know I don't like Summer's that much and besides, Jean can do so much better than him anyways."

"Lance, I'm swear I'm gonna-"

"No, Kitty, it's alright."

"What? But, Jean-"

"It's alright. I needed a change in my life anyways. Come on. I'll fill you guys in some more once we're inside."

For the next few days things were rocky between Jean and Scott at the mansion. Word of their break up had spread quickly to the others and causing a chisim between everyone. While Charles and Storm remained neutral, everyone else seemed to take different sides. Most of the boys took Scott's side, except Logan and Kurt, and all of the girls took Jean's side. The stress and tension of it all got to Jean so bad that she had been staying over at Freddy's house more and more.

One night, the girls decided to take Jean out clubbing to get her mind off of Scott. Kitty invited Lance and his friends along too to be nice. Surprisingly enough almost all of the girls willingly paired off with each of the boys to go dance on the dance floor. All except for Jean and Freddy. They simply sat at the booth that everybody was sitting at and sipped their drinks. Eveybody tried to get them to dance, but Jean said that she just wanted to sit for a while and Freddy said he couldn't really dance. The others eventually gave up and went back to the dance floor. Everything was going well, until Scott and the other boys entered the club. Jean's heart sank as she watched him approach their table.

"Oh, no." she tried to hide her face with ther hand, but it did not conceal her from Scott's angry gaze.

Freddy turned to see what was bothering Jean, the sight of Scott made him quickly stand up, and get in between the two.

Scott stopped a few feet away from Freddy and shifted his glasses, so that they large boy could see the glowing rays hidden behind those shades, "Back down, Blob. I just want to talk to Jean."

"No way! I'm not gonna give you the chance to make Jean cry again."

"Just step aside, Blob. I'm not going to tell you again."

"Scott! Please, don't! We're not suppose to use our powers in public."

Scott sneered and pushed his shades back up, "Fine! We'll talk later, Jean." he glared up at Freddy and narrowed his eyes, "And I'll kick your ass when there's not so many people around!"

"Yeah, that'll be the day."

Jean and Freddy watched Scott and the other's head to a different table at the other end of the club. For a while, the boys simply ordered drinks, and stared at the two of them. Jean turned away from their gaze, her face red with embarassment. Freddy growled, but the sight of Jean made his expression soften. He looked back at Scott and the boys, then back at Jean. An idea suddenly came to him and a wicked smile crossed his lips.

He approached Jean and put a massive hand on her shoulder, she looked up at him, "Hey, Jean. How would ya like to give one eye over there a dose of his own medicine?"

"What do you mean?" he leaned down and whispered something in her ear, her eyes grew wide, "What? Are you crazy? He wants to kill you already as it is!"

"Yeah, but it would be worth it." Jean shook her head, unsure, "Just trust me, Jean. It'll not only be fun for me, but for you as well. Come on. Whaddya say?"

Jean took another look over at Scott and noticed him mouthing something to the others. He was pointing and laughing at her, which made her blood boil, "Alright. I'll do it!"

"Heh Heh Just give me one second." he walked over to the dj, requested a song, and payed him a 20. He then walked over to Jean, held out his hand; smiling at her. She smiled back and took it. They walked out to the dance floor, where many eyes were on the two odd couple.

The music quickly changed from a slow dance to a fast pace song: "Bad Girlfriend" by Theory of a Deadman

My Girlfriend's a d**k magnet My Girlfriend's got a habit

She's hot, can't stop, up on stage, doing shots, Tip the man he'll

Ring the bell, get her drunk she'll scream like hell.

Dirty girl, gettin' down, dance with guys from outta town.

Grab her ass, actin' tough. Mess with her, she'll f**k you up.

No one really knows if she's drunk or if she's stoned, but she's

Comin' back to my place tonight!

Jean and Freddy immediately began dirty dancing to the song. She pressed her back against him and he held her hips against his, grinding to the music. All eyes were on the odd couple and everyone's mouths dropped to see that a very large, fat guy was dancing with a really hot chick.

She likes to shake her ass she grinds it to the beat

She likes to pull my hair when I make her grind her teeth

I like to strip her down she's naughty to the end

You know what she is, no doubt about it

She's a bad, bad girlfriend!

Red thong, Party's on, Love this song, sing along.

Come together, leave alone, see you later back at home

No one really knows if she's drunk or is she's stoned

But she's coming back to my place tonight. I say

No one really knows just how far she's gonna go,

But I'm gonna find out later tonight.

Freddy held her hand and twirled her around. Still holding hands they took a step back and then stepped closer to one another. They were smiling from ear to ear as they caught glimsps of Scott's horrified expression. While Jean was facing him, Freddy then pulled her hips back into his, and they continued to grind dance on the dance floor again.

She likes to shake her ass she grinds it to the beat

She likes to pull my hair when I make her grind her teeth

I like to strip her down she's naughty to the end

You know what she is, no doubt about it

She's a bad, bad girlfriend!

Jean had wrapped her arms around his neck and Freddy ran his hands down her back to her butt, but he did not squeeze. He was just wanting to put on a good show for Scott to see. They dipped to the floor and rose, dancing to the rhythem of the music. To Jean's surprise, Freddy was actually a lot more flexible than he looked when it came to dancing.

Doesn't take her long to make things right.

But does it make her wrong to

Have the time of her life. the time of her life

My girlfriend's a dick magnet My girlfriend's gotta have it

She's a gold digger now you figure out it's over, pull the trigger.

Futures finished, there it went, savings gone,

The money spent

I look around and all I see is, no good, bad and ugly,

Man she's hot and fixed to be, the future

Ex-Miss Connolly!

By now, Scott had had enough and was walking over to them. As soon as he had gotten within arms reach of Jean, Freddy spun her around away from Scott, and bumped him with his ass. Scott stumbled backwards and fell at Kitty and Lance's feet, who were both laughing at him. Scott shot them an evil glare and got up. Attempting to try again, but this time, it was Lance who had made him fall by tripping him with his foot.

"Alvers!"

"Just enjoy the show, Summers. Ha Ha"

She likes to shake her ass she grinds it to the beat

She likes to pull my hair when I make her grind her teeth

I like to strip her down she's naughty to the end

You know what she is, no doubt about it

She's a bad, bad girlfriend!

She's a bad, bad girlfriend.

She's a bad, bad girlfriend.

As Scott turned his head to glare the two down, what he saw next practically made him have a heart attack.

Freddy decided that it was time give Scott the coup de gras. He picked Jean up towards the end of the song, placed her on the side of his hip, and pulled her face close to his. Giving her a very long kiss. Jean had not expected this and was going yell at him, but something over came her, and she melted into that kiss. Returning it with heated passion that she did not realize that was there before. Freddy was shocked, he had only planned on a kiss for show, but he wasn't going to complain or stop, unless she wanted to.

People started whistling and howling. All voiced their approval and amazement at the perfomance the couple put on. All, except for Scott, who had stormed out of the club followed by his friends.

After a while Jean and Freddy pulled away from one another. Their breathing was heavy and their faces were red. He set her down and scratched the back of his head, blushing. Jean tucked her hair behind her ear and blushed as well.

"So." Freddy cleared his throat, "It looks like we put on a good show for one eye. It doesn't look like he's gonna stick around for an encore."

"Yeah." she looked off to the side, then back up at him, "Um..."

"Ha Ha I guess I made things kinda akward with that whole kiss thing again, huh. Sorry about that."

"No. No. I didn't mind. In fact... I kind of enjoyed." she blushed even redder.

"Really?" he blinked in surprise, then he smiled, "Um... You wanna dance some more?"

"Sure." a slow dance came on and she giggled, "I we take things slow for the rest of the night."

"Yeah, I guess." they embraced one another and began to slow dance, he stared deeply into her eyes, "Ya know, ya look really beautiful tonight."

"Ah, thank you, Freddy. You're not too bad yourself." she moved closer to him.

"So, um... I know that it hasn't been long since, well you know, but um... Would you- Would you consider going out with guy like me?"

"Well... It is kinda soon, but... Maybe if we took things slow it won't be so bad. You know, just to see if we're compatible."

"Okay. I promise I won't rush ya or make you do anything you don't feel that you're ready for."

Her eyes sparkled as she stared up into his big brown eyes, "Thank you." she laid her head against his chest and they danced the night away, or at least until the club owners kicked them out.


	15. Turn of Events

Chapter 15

Turn of Events

Everyone stood outside of the club, waiting for Jean and Freddy. Once Jean and Freddy finally emerged from the doors, they were imeadiately surounded by their friends. The girls were giggling with excitement and wanted Jean to give them all the details and the boys patted Freddy on the back and told him good job. Both Jean and Freddy smiled and blushed at all of the attention that they were recieving. This went on for about 15 minutes before someone finally suggested that they get something to eat before heading back to their respective homes. Everyone agreed, headed to Sonic, so that they all could sit outside on the resturaunts table, and enjoy the rest of the beautiful night while they ate.

Freddy was still in awe that he had finally got Jean to go out with him. Never before had he ever believed that he would be so lucky to get the girl of his dreams to go out with him. He stared at her dreamly, until Jean noticed him staring. Feeling slightly embarrassed he turned his head away, pretending to be interested in something else. Jean merely smiled, reached over, and took his hand in hers. Freddy stared down at their hands for a long while before raising his eyes to meet hers. Jean smiled at him and winked. This made him chuckle and he pulled her close to him, wrapping his arm around waist.

Soon everyone was done eating and were very tired. They all decided to call it a night and parted ways.

Jean, Kitty, Lance, Pietro, and Todd all stayed the night over at Freddy's house. Mystique still had Tiffany, so they didn't have to worry about being quiet when they all entered the house. Lance and Kitty slept downstairs on the pullout couch, while Jean took the spare bedroom, and Pietro slept in Todd's room. Todd and Pietro argued who would get the bed, but in the end Pietro got the bed, and Todd ended up on the floor. Not that he minded really, he just hated losing to the speedster.

Everyone was asleep except for Kitty and Lance, who took advantage of their time alone. For once they could explore the boundries of their relationship without fear of any adults catching them. Lance was on top of Kitty kissing her and running his fingers through her hair. She returned his kisses as she caressed his face.

"I love you, Lance." she whispered in his ear, "I'll always love you, no matter what."

He stopped kissing her, so he could press his forhead against hers, "I love you too, Kitty. You mean so much to me. Promise me you won't ever leave me?"

"I promise, as long as you promise me the same thing."

"Promise." he ran his thumb over her lips and kissed her again.

"Lance?"

"Yeah, Kitty?"

"I-I think I'm ready."

He arched an eyebrow, "Ready?" she leaned up and whispered in his ear, he blushed, "Oh? Oh! You sure, Kitty?"

"Yes. I wouldn't want it to be with anybody else."

He smiled down at her, "Okay, but we'll have to be quiet."

"Okay."

That night the two young lovers became one. Lance was Kitty's first and though it was difficult for her to stay quiet she somehow managed to keep from waking up the whole household.

Morning came and Todd was the first one up. He decended down the stais, yawning, "Man! This is the last time I let Quicksilver trick me into giving him my bed. Huh?" he stopped when he reached the living room, his eyes were wide, and his jaw had dropped open at the sight of Kitty's exposed breasts. "Uh Uh Uh..." he was speechless and couldn't muster up the urge to do anything else, except stare.

Lance woke up and immediately noticed Todd's shocked expression. He looked to see what Todd was staring at and quickly covered Kitty's exposed chest, then put a finger to his lips. "Don't tell anyone." he whispered.

"Uh... Okay. But..."

"Not a word, Toad!"

"I swear I won't tell. But..."

"But what?"

"But why keep something like this a secret? I mean, everybody knows that you two love eachother, yo."

"Yeah, but there maybe others' who wouldn't see it the same way." he looked down at Kitty and brushed a lock of hair out of her face, "Plus, too... Think of Kitty and how this all will affect her if telling the others go badly." he was quiet for a moment, then turned to look back at Todd, "We'll tell the others, but only when she feels ready."

"Oh... Okay." Todd stared at Lance with awe.

"Thanks, Toad."

"Yeah... Um... The others' will be getting up soon, so I think ya better wake Kitty up and get yoruselves dressed before the others come down."

"Right."

Lance waited for Todd to dissapear into the kitchen before waking Kitty up and doing as Todd had suggested.

Sure enough, just as soon as they had finish dressing the others' began to stir, and decend down the stairs. The knowledge of Lance and Kitty's romance last night was left unknown to the rest of the group, save for Todd.

Kitty asked Lance to take her home right after breakfast. He offered Jean a ride, but she politely declined. She wanted to spend more time with Freddy. Lance had just opened the front door when he suddenly stopped.

"Mystique!" he gasped, "W-What are you doing back so soon? I thought you were gonna stay over at Ireans for at least three more days."

Mystique looked past Lance and straight at Todd. She gave the young boy a very sad look.

"Mom?" Todd slowly walked up to her, "Mom, what's wrong? You look sad." Mystique stood there in silence and she touched her adopted son's cheek, "Mom?"

"Todd... We need to have a talk."

"Sure, Mom, lemme just-"

"Whatever you have to do, it can wait, son. Please, come with me. We need to speak in private." she put her arm around his shoulder and lead him to her limo. They would not return till late later that night.

"That was weird." Lance murmured, "I wonder what's eatin' her."

"Whatever it is, it's like, totally bad. I never seen Mystique look so sad before. And what's with Toad calling her Mom? I thought she didn't like him."

"It's a looooong story." Freddy said, walking up from behind them, "If you stay a little longer I can fill you guys in on all the details."

"Well, Kitty?" Lance looked down at her, "It's up to you?"

"Okay. I guess I can risk skipping Mr. Logan's training session today. I won't be in too much trouble as long as I turn on my Kitty charm. Mr. Logan could never get mad at me when I bat my bit blue eyes at him. He turns all, like, mushy inside." she giggled.

They all sat down and listened to what Freddy had to say about Todd and Mystique's new mother and son bond. Jean and Kitty were almost in tears when they heard the story. Lance merely scratched the back of his head and shook it in disbelief.

"How sad." Kitty whispered.

"I don't think it's sad at all." Jean wiped a tear away from her eye, "It's wonderful that Mystique is finally making a change for the better and that Todd gets what he has always wanted."

"Rogue and the fuzzy elf ain't gonna be too happy when they hear this." Lance looked over at Freddy and smirked, "But the look on their faces when they hear Todd calling Mystique mom will be hillarious."

Freddy nodded, but he held a serious look on his face as he stared at the front door, "I just hope everything's okay. The only time I've ever seen Mystique that sad is when Pietro gave us orders from Magneto to keep her from talking to Nightcrawler that night at the construction site. I'd hate to see either of them sad. Especially now."

Meanwhile...

Mystique and Todd road in silence for a very long tim. Mystique wanted to tell him what was bothering her, but she couldn't get up the courage to tell him. She tried to find ways of opening the conversation a little easier.

"Mom? Please, talk to me, yo? Yer startin' to kinda scare me."

She looked into her son's eyes, tears were in her own, "Son, I-"

"You can tell me, Mom. I can take it."

She motioned for him to come closer and she held him in a very tight and very protective hug, "My sweet, sweet boy..." tears dropped onto the boy's shirt, "It seems that I have gained a wonderful son just to have him get taken away from me."

Todd grabbed ahold of her shirt with shakey hands, "W-W-What do you mean? W-Why am I being taken away from you?"

She squeezed him tightly, as though an invisible force was trying to pull him away from her right then, "S-Social services called me last night, son. They-They said that your father's very much alive and that he has been looking for you. He want's you back, Todd."

"No..." Todd squeezed her tighter than she was squeezing him, tears were rolling down his cheeks, his voice barely a whisper, "No!"

"Todd, I-"

"Don't let them take me away, Mom! Please? I don't care if my biological dad wants me back. I won't go back to a parent who dumped me when I was born! I wanna stay with you, Mom!"

"Son..." she pulled herself away from him and brushed his hair out of his face, "As much resources as I have... This is something that I cannot stop. You will have to meet him, whether we like it or not. He will be here tomorrow morning."

Todd shook his head violently, "No! I won't! I won't meet him! I'll-I'll run away! I'll-"

Mystique's eyes hardened, but they still remained sad. She grabbed him by his upper arms and shook him, "No, Todd! No more running!"

"But, Mom... They're gonna take me away from you. Don't-Don't you want me to stay with you?"

"More than anything, son." she kissed him on his forhead and held his head to her chest, stroking his hair, "I want you to grow up to be a good man. I had you leave the Brotherhood and live with Freddrick, because I knew that that couldn't happen if you were still fighting for Magneto's cause. You've grown so much since then and I can't begin to tell how very proud I am of you, Todd. You've given me a chance to be a mom again. That is more than anybody has ever given me in my entire life. And as your mother I want you to face this problem head on and not run away."

"Even if that means I get taken away from you?" tears swelled in the boys eyes.

"Yes, son. Even if you do get taken away from me..." he looked up at her and she looked down at him, a small smile crossed her lips, "But we'll always be family no matter what. You'll always be my sweet little boy."

"Mom..."

They wept silently together as the car ride went on. Mystique did not give the driver any specific instructions, just to simply drive, until they all felt hungry. But Todd would not eat, his heart was too heavy for him to notice his empty stomach. They returned home hours later. Jean was back at the mansion and Freddy had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for the two to return.

"Freddrick." Mystique gently tried to wake him, "Freddrick, we're home."

"Huh?" he awoke, rubbing his eyes, "What time is it?"

"Nearly two in the morning, dear."

"Where's Todd?"

"He's upstairs, pretending to be asleep."

Freddy sat up to full attention, "I take it things went pretty bad?"

She shook her head sadly, "Freddrick... Todd may be leaving us tomorrow."

"What? Why?"

"His father is alive and he wants him back."

"But-"

"There's nothing I can do about it. The only thing that I can possibly do is take this to court and try to win full custody of Todd."

"Do you think you can do it?"

"Only if I can prove that Todd's father is unfit to raise him or if the judge will allow Todd to chose which home to wishes to go to. I want to be optomistic, but our chances look pretty slim at the moment."

Freddy took her hand into his and squeezed, "Hey. It's gonna be okay, Mystique. We'll check out Todd's dad tomorrow, see what he's like, and if he's not a good person then we'll have sure fire chance at keeping Todd. If that doesn't work, then we just gotta keep our heads up and hope for the best."

She nodded, "Yes. I agree." she sat quietly for moment before standing up, "I will be back tomorrow morning to pick Todd up. Please, make sure he is dressed and ready by 9 a.m."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good night, Freddrick."

"Night, Mystique."

Once Mystique had left, Freddy made his way upstairs to Todd's room.

He knocked on the door, "Todd? It's me." Todd did not answer, "Come on, buddy. I know that you're awake."

"Go away!" said Todd with a muffled cry.

Freddy sighed, but he opened Todd's door despite his protests, "Sorry, man, but I it ain't gonna happen."

Todd rubbed the tears away from his eyes and he turned his back towards Freddy, "Just leave me alone, Freddy! Please?" Freddy reached down and picked Todd up, "Hey! Put me down! Put me down!"

Freddy held Todd in a caring hug, "Mystique told me everything. I know that nothing I say can make you feel better right now, but..." he hugged him closer, "I know things are hard for you right now, but just remember that we're here for ya. We're gonna do everything that we can to make sure that you stay with us. Just don't give up when things look grim." Todd looked up at his friend, then down at the floor, "Everything's gonna be alright."

Author's note: Sorry for the delay gang. Been wracking my brains trying to figure out how to do this chapter. I hope ya'll like it. Even if it's a little sad.


	16. Meeting the Father

Chapter 16

Meeting the Father

Todd could not sleep, so Freddy and him spent the rest of the night downstairs in the living room, and watched tv till they both fell asleep. Todd had been leaning against his friend's shoulder, but when he nodded off he slipped, and rested his head on Freddy's large leg. Freddy hadn't been that far off himself, but before he let sleep take him, he grabbed the blanket that was on the couch, and put over Todd's sleeping form.

Freddy patted his little brother gently and said in a voice that was sleepy, "Don't worry, buddy. Things..." he yawned, "Are gonna be alright."

Morning came rather quicky and the two had not woken up. Mystique had arrived about ten minutes early and had let herself in. When she saw the two had not woken up, she became very upset.

"Freddrick! Todd! Why are you two still alseep?"

Freddy jumped at the sound of her voice which made Todd roll off onto the floor.

"W-What thime is it?" asked Freddy, who was searching for a clock.

"It's 8:30. I told you, Freddrick that I wanted Todd up and ready by 9!"

"We still got 30 minutes, yo." yawned Todd, as he tried to go back to sleep.

She rolled her eyes and tapped her foot, "Get up, Todd."

"Ngh! 10 more minutes..."

A murderous spark flashed in Mystique's eye, which made Freddy cringe. He reached over and shook Todd's shoulder, "Uh... I think you better do as she says, Todd. If looks could kill, that'd be the look she's givin' ya right now."

Todd rolled over, growling, until he saw what Freddy was talking about. With a yelp of fear and speed to match Pietro's he pushed himself off of the floor, and ran upstairs. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and put on some clean clothes. Once he was done, he went back downstairs for Mystique to inspect him. She looked him up and down, pulled out a brush from her pursh, and brushed his messy hair.

"There. That's better." she looked at her watch, "And that leaves us 10 minutes to spare. Come along, son. Your father will be waiting for us over at the court house."

"H-Have you seen him yet?"

"No, unfortunately. So we'll both be in for a bit of a surprise."

"You want me to come too, Mystique?" Freddy asked.

"Not this time, Freddrick. For right now, this is something Todd and I must do alone."

"Oh... Okay." he lowered his eyes to the floor.

"Do you have work today?"

"No. It's a slow week this week, so I got some extra time off."

"Why don't you spend some time with Pietro or Lance. I'm sure that they're just as concerned as the situation as you and would like something to do to keep their minds off of it."

"Okay."

"I'll call you later this evening when we have all of this sorted out."

They said their goodbyes and Freddy watched Mystique and a helpless Todd leave the house. Now that they were gone, his house felt very empty. He sighed, unsure as to what to do, so he went upstairs to his room, and went back to sleep. Thinking that maybe it would make time go by faster. Just as soon as his head hit the pillow and he was about to close his eyes, his cell phone started ringing.

"Damn it..." he reachd for his phone, saw it was Jean, and answered it, "What's up?" he rolled over on his back and stared up at the ceiling.

"Lance told me about what's happening with Todd today. Is he okay?"

"The lil' guys scared, Jean. He tried pushing me away last night, but I wouldn't let him. Ended up we stayed up till about 5 a.m. watching tv, until we both passed out. Mystique came by just a little bit ago and got him. She said she'd call later on when things get sorted out."

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm worried just the same, but I'm too tired to do anything about it. You wanna come over?"

"I thought you said you were tired?"

He smiled, "Yeah, but I think a Jean size make shift teddy bear might help me fall back to sleep."

Jean's giggling echoed on the other end, "Thought we were suppose to be taking things slow?"

"Huh? Oh! I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was-"

"Don't worry. I know what you meant. I'll be over shortly."

"Okay. See ya in a bit."

"Bye."

Freddy hug up his phone and waited for Jean to arrive. She arrived within 30 minutes and had let herself in with the spare key that Freddy had given her for emergancy purposes. He had heard her moving around downstairs and called to her from his room. In a matter of moments Jean was standing in his doorway, wearing a purple sleaveless shirt, a black skirt that came halfway down her thighs, and black dress shoes. He smiled up at her from his bed and she smiled at him. When motioned for her to come over, she kicked up her shoes, and climbed into his bed. He held her close to him and kissed the back of her neck.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. I needed a reason to get out of the mansion anyways."

"Scott still giving you some grief?"

"Not really. Just the tension over at the mansion is so thick that it's even giving Xavier a headache."

"Damn! That is pretty bad."

"But at least he's leaving me alone. Anytime I enter the room with him in it he immediately leaves. So things aren't all that bad."

"Good." he caressed the side of her face then gently lifted her chin up to kiss her lips, "You're too beautiful to be stressing out all the time over there."

"You're a big flirt, you know that?"

"Hey, if it keeps you around longer, I'm gonna keep doing it."

She rolled over and draped an arm over his side, "Hmmm If I'd have know you were going to be this sweet, then I would've gone to get that soda with you sooner."

"What can I say. I'm like fine wine. The longer I wait, the better I get. So right now, I got the moves and the words to sarronate my seniorita."

"Since when do you know Spanish?"

Freddy blushed, "I don't. I just happen to watch a lot of Antonio Banderas films."

"Oh? So that's where you get all of your lines."

She giggled at him, but he did not get angry. Instead he smiled mischievously and began tickling her like crazy, "Oh, ya think that's funny, huh? Well hows about I really giva ya somethin' to laugh about."

"Ah! Ha Ha Ha Stop! Ooh! Ha Ha Ha No more! No more!"

"What do I get if I do?"

"Ha Ha Ha I don't know!"

"Then I'm gonna keep on ticklin' ya!"

"What? No! Ha Ha Ha" she couldn't think of anything, so she spouted out the first thing rolled out of her mouth, "Alright! Alright! I'll take you out to eat! Ha Ha Ha"

He stopped tickling her and kissed her cheek, "Deal."

"You're an evil man, Fred Dukes."

"Heh Heh Old habits are hard to break. But don't worry, babe, I'm turnin' good for good."

"Good. You make a better good guy than a bad guy anyways."

"Thanks." he nuzzed her neck and hugged her, "With Tiffany and you in my life, being good makes it all worth it."

Within moments Freddy had fallen asleep, holding his precious Jean close to his body.

10 a.m. Inside the Bayville Court House...

Mystique and Todd sat on a bench in the main Lobby, waiting for the appearance of Sr. Tolensky. Todd was shifting around nervously, but Mystique kept still and was reserved. He scuffed his tennis shoes back and forth upon the marble floor; making squeaking sounds. He would jump to his feet any time an adult male walked in their gerneral direction, then sit back down when they paid no interest in him. When he was about to jump up for the 20th time, Mystique grabbed him by his shoulder, and forced him to sit back down.

"Sorry." Todd looked at the floor sheepishly and folded his hands in his lap.

"It's alright, Todd. I know that you're nervous. I am too." she sighed, patting his hands. She looked up and searched the crowd of people entering the main doors. She was not sure what the Sr. Tolenski would look look, but she had imagined he would look like an older version of Todd. Eventually someone had caught her eye and she knew right then that this had to be the one, "I think he's here, son."

Todd tried to see who she was looking at, but there was just too many people coming in through the front doors from him to pick out. He rose up on shakey legs and held onto Mystique's hand like a frighten child in a crowded mall. He allowed her to lead him and stopped when she stopped. His eyes were glued to the floor, terrified to look up, and not willing to accept the reality that whoever they were standing before was his biological father.

"Greetings. You must be Raven Darklome." said a deep, strong, male voice that carried a heavy British accent.

"Yes, I am. And you must be Mr. Tolenski?"

"That I am. My full name is Tonybee Tolenski." the man paused, as his eyes fell upon his son, "I take it that this is my son?"

"Yes it is. Todd, say hello to your father." Todd did not move, "Todd, please, don't be impolite."

The young boy gulped, slowly raising his eyes to meet his father's gaze, and what he saw of the man before him took him by surprise. The man was 6ft. 2in. tall, he wore a fancy brown dress suit with white dress shirt underneath that covered his slender body, he was an aged man about late 40's early 50's, his facial features were similar to Todds, but he was perfect and cold, he had grey hair that was slicked back, a grey gotee, black horned rimmed glasses that sat on the end of his nose, and he was even holding a black cane with what looked like to be a diamond at the top.

"Um... Hello."

Mr. Tolenski shifted his glasses, frowning down at the boy, "Hmmm He's not much to look at is he?"

Mystique narrowed her eyes at the man, "Looks can be decieving, Mr. Tolenski. Todd is a bright, strong boy. If you find his looks and behavior displeasing, then the blame turns to you." Mr. Tolenski arched an eyebrow at her, "You abandoned the poor boy if I am not mistaken."

"It was a necessity at the time. It could not be helped."

"Could not be helped?" Mystique was outraged, but she kept her voice down, "Explain yourself!"

He shot her an icey glare that sent chills down her spine, "I do not have to explain myself to the likes of you, woman." he then turned his gaze back to Todd, "The only one who needs to know the truth is this young boy standing with us."

Mr. Tolenski stepped closer to Todd, but Mystique put her arm in between them, "If you're thinking of taking 'my son' with an answer like that, then you're sadly mistaken! For all I know you could be a child molester!"

"Correction, Ms. Darklome, he is my son and it is my right, and I assure you that I am no more a child molester than you. Now, step aside or I shall have security escort you out for interfering with my affairs." Mystique stood her ground, he smirked, "Hmm Security!"

"Ngh! Alright!" she moved out of the way, "Just don't do anything to hurt him."

"Mom..." Todd's eyes teared up and he reached out for Mystique's hand.

"Stop your sniveling!" barked Mr. Tolenski, "Tolenski's do not cry. Not even the women in our family shed a single tear when they give birth to future generations."

"B-But I don't want to go..."

"If you want to know the truth about your birth and abandonment, then you must come with me." Todd did not move, "I give you my word as a gentleman that I will not take you away from your serrogate mother today. I will return you to her care when we are done. Then, when I feel the time has come, I will come for you. Does that sound fair?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Todd slowly walked up to his father and allowed him to lead him out the court house doors. Just before they left, he looked over his shoulder at his mother, hoping that she was still there, and had not abandoned him. She stood there vigil as ever, the color was gone from her face, but she still stood strong. She gave her son the reassurance that he needed with a simple look that told him that she'll still be there waiting for him.

Author's note: Hey, everybody! Hope ya liked the chapter. For all you Marvel fans out there who noticed that I used Toad's original name to name Todd's pops, reason for that is because I couldn't come up wth a friggin' name. Since X-Men Evolution didn't find it necissary to call Avalanche and Toad by their original comicbook names, I decided to borrow it. Waste not, want not. I think that's how the old saying goes. Any who, more chapters to come. Peace.


	17. Dinner

Chapter 17

Dinner's Getting Cold

**Author's note:** Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I've been a little stressed out because I'll be moving like next month. So it may be a while for some more chapters to come. I hope that everyone still like's this story. When things get settled down, I'll try harder to add more chapters so that this story can be complete. Enjoy the newest chapter.

Evening came and Freddy was still waiting for his friends to return home. He stood at the stove cooking as he waited. Jean wanted to help him, but he kindly declined, telling her this is something he has to do to keep himself from going bug nuts. Once he finished his cooking and set the table, he suddenly heard a knock at his front door. He wiped his hands and approached the door, opening it to reveal the blind Ireane who was holding Tiffany on her hip.

"Dah Dah!" Tiffany squealed with joy, when she saw her father standing before them, and immediately reach out her arms to grab him.

Seeing his daughter all smiles and laughter, he grew his own smile, and took her from Ireane. Throwing her up in the air and catching her, "Hiya, sweetie!" he pulled her close to him and hugged her, "Did ya have fun with Grandma and Ireane?"

"Fun! Fun! Hee Hee" Tiffany reached back and grabbed Ireane hand that held onto her walking stick, "Gamma Ireane fun too!"

Freddy chuckled, as he looked to Ireane, "So, you've adopted another Grandma, huh? How's it feel to be a grandma, Ireane?"

"Just to be clear, Freddrick, just because I'm blind, it doesn't mean I can't hit you with my walking stick. But to answer your question, it's quite enjoyable. Especially when I have sweet little Tiffany here to spoil." she sighed and smiled, "I remeber when Rogue was young and playful just like her. I really do miss my little girl."

He put his hand upon her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "I'm sure she'll come back to see you. It's Mystique she's mad at, not you."

She lowered her head, but held her smile, "I doubt that, dear. I have seen many visions of my little girl and none of them pertain to me."

"Oh... I'm sorry."

"Don't be, dear. I allowed myself to follow Raven's path at the time and now I must suffer the consequences for my actions. But... I still have Raven and my new surroget granddaughter." he raised her head, smiling widely, "So, has our friends' returned home yet?"

"No, not yet. I haven't even heard from them all day and it's got me worried. Why don't ya come inside and have a bit to eat, while we wait."

"I'd like that, thank you." she stepped inside and allowed Freddy to lead her into the dining room, where he pulled out a chair for her, and served her dinner. Jean poured her a glass of milk, while Freddy went back into the kitchen. Ireane gently took a hold of Jean's hand and motioned for her to come close, then she whispered low enough for Jean to hear, "That boy is a special one. Raven may not approve, but I see great things for the two of you. But there is going to be a time, when you must chose between a life with Freddy or your dreams of becoming an X-Men."

Jean looked back at doorway that Freddy had dissapeared behind, then turned back to Ireane, "Do you know who I will chose?"

"I do, but... I am not going to say. I want you to choose for yourself."

"Then why tell me this?"

"I want you to be prepared for when it happens and it will happen. Unlike Raven, child, I am not nearly as cruel."

Jean studied Ireane for a while, unsure of what to make of everything that she had just heard, "When will it happen?"

"I don't know. My predictions don't come with a calandar."

Just then Tiffany came running into the living room, giggling and screaming, as she was being chased by her father.

"You come back here with that cookie, young lady!" he yelled, but in a playful manner.

"Cookie! Cookie!" she squealed as she evaded his outstretched arms. She held the cookie up in the air, taunting her father, "Cookieeeeeeee! Ha Hah Hah"

She wheeled around the corner at a sharp angle that Freddy lost his balace and fell. He rolled over and looked up at Jean, "Jean? Help?"

"Sorry, Freddy, you're on your own on this one."

"Aw, come on!"

"I'm going to have to agree with Jean on this one, dear. Even though I can't see what's going on, I still find the sounds quite amusing." Ireane chuckled.

He groaned, forced himself up, and began chasing Tiffany around, who was still able to keep out of his reach. Feeling defeated, he laid on the floor on his back, and closed his eyes. Jean and Ireane were still laughing uncontrolabley, which didn't make him feel any better. "I give up." he sighed. He was about to get up, but he felt a small body crawl up onto his chest and sit down. He opened his eyes and saw that his little girl smiling down on him, still holding the cookie in her tiny hands.

"Dah Dah" she broke the cookie in half and stuck one half into his mouth, and she took a bite out of hers, "I share."

His heart melted and he gladly ate his half of the cookie, "Thanks, kiddo." he sat up, catching her as she slide off his chest in fits of laughter, and hugged her, "But don't think your gonna get to eat desert before dinner all the time. There are rules ya know. Understand?"

"Kay."

"Aw." cooed both Ireane and Jean.

"Ah, stop it, you two."

"Can't help it. You two look so cute together." Jean smiled warmly, as she got up, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "She's definately been good for you. You're a lot more patient now."

"Heh heh Ya think so?"

"I know so."

"Speaking of patience." said Ireane, clearing her throat, "About how much longer will we have to wait for the news on Todd?"

"Not long at all." called Mystique's voice from the doorway, "I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting, but Todd's father requested some personal time with his son." she walked into the living room, followed by a very sad Todd. She sat down on the couch and pulled the young boy down next to her, holding him protectively.

"Hey, Todd, you okay, buddy?" Freddy got up and knelt down in front of him, "Todd?" he didn't get a response.

"Leave him alone for now, Freddrick. He's mentally and emotionally exhausted from todays events."

"I don't understand, Mystique, why is he acting like some kind of a zombie?"

"Too much happening all at once. It was more than he could handle." she began stroking the boys hair and held him closer to her, "Apparently, his father is a very wealthy aristocrat, who hales from England. He has a wife and three children who are all adults now and are eagerly awaiting for their father's passing."

Freddy's eyes widened with shock, "Uh... Why?"

"They've been spoiled all their lives and all that they love is money, particulary Mr. Tolenski's money. Most children who grow up in a home filled with wealth normally care for no one but themselves."

"So... If he already has three kids' that he's raised and stuff... Then why does he want Todd? Why is he even making an appearance after all of these years?"

"He needs an heir. Particularly one that won't throw away his money and everything that he's worked for his entire life. Todd is the only one out of his children that has never grown up in the privalage of money and he believes that Todd may be the key to saving what's left of his legacy."

Freddy's face contorted with anger as he clenched his fists, "So the old geezer is just taking Todd away from us so he can use him? This is bullshit! If he wanted Todd, then why the hell did he wait all this time to get him?"

"Keep your voice down, Freddrick. You're starting to scare Tiffany."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. I know how you feel." she sighed, then continued, "Todd's birth is a product of adultry. Mr. Tolenski had an affair with one of the maids that worked for him. Their affair was kept a secret for a very long time, up until Todd was born. As you can probably imagine, Mr. Tolenski's wife was furious and had the maid fired and sent away to a place that not even Mr. Tolenski could find her. It wasn't until recently that he had finally found the whereabouts of his former love and their son. Todd's mother, was banished to America, and was unable to bring enough money home to feed the two of them. In the end, she made the ultimate sacrifice, and gave her baby to an orphanage where he might have a chance at living. Not too long after that... She committed suicide, unable to cope with the loss of a man who cared for her and being force to give up the most precious thing this world had given her. He found all this out through a letter that she had left for him before she died. She gave it to dear friend to give to him, which came to Mr. Tolenski's hands a few short months ago." Todd's arms gripped his mother's side tightly and he began to weep, "Shhhh It's okay, son. I'm here. I'm here."

Freddy stared at his young friend with sad eyes, "How long do we have before-"

"So far we have made a temporary arrangement, until we can come to more permanit terms. Todd will spend the summer over at his father's estate, so that Mr. Tolenski may see how he fairs."

"That... Sounds fair, I guess."

"It's a better deal than what most people would give a child."

"Mom..." Todd's small voice finally piped up, "I'm scared."

"I know, sweetie. I know."

"I don't want to go!"

"I don't want you to go either, but this is the agreement we all settled on. At least he's giving you a summer to try things out instead of taking you right now. Don't worry, son. You will have the rest of the school year to stay with us until summer comes. Which means, we will have all the holidays and even your birthday to be with one another."

Freddy patted his friend's knee and smiled, "And don't forget about Christmas, buddy. That's definately somethin' to look forward to since we're all a family now. Hell, I'll even buy ya the worlds biggest stuffed frog if it'll put a smile on your face." he chuckled and winked at Todd, when he noticed a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, "It's like Mystique says, you still have a whole school year to spend with us. So don't get so down over somethin' that ain't for sure yet. Kay?"

"Okay." Todd gave him a small smile.

Mystique kissed her son on top of his forehead and gave him a squeeze, "Now there's the smile that I like seeing, though I like seeing one a bit more bigger than that." this made the smile on Todd's face grow bigger, "Now that's more like it." she then turned her attention to Freddy, "Now that things have calmed down a bit, I think dinner is in order. It's not too cold I hope."

"Nothin' that a little reheating won't do. Shouldn't take long though." Freddy stood up and herded everybody into the dining room and within minutes, the food was hot and ready to serve, "Hope ya guys brought your appitites. I kinda went a little overboard with the cooking."

"It's alright, dear." said Ireane, "This just means that you won't have to cook breakfast in the morning. Mmmm Everything smells delicious."

"Thanks. Jean made a cake for desert. So I hope you guys will have room for it."

"I'll most definately have a slice." Ireane felt an icey stare from Mystique, "And Raven will have a piece too, I'm sure."

Mystique pretended to help Ireane with her napkin and whispered so low that only Ireane could hear, "If you think I'm going to eat anything that girl makes, you're sadly mistaken."

"Behave, Raven. This girl genuinly likes the boy. Give her a chance."

"How can you be so sure? What if she decides to go back to that boy Summers and break poor Freddricks heart?"

"Only time will tell. People chance everyday, Raven. Look at you and the boys for instance. If Tiffany hadn't come along, I'm sure things would not be nearly as cheery as they are now."

"True, but Jean-"

"Jean is giving the boy a chance to prove himself. A chance that most people wouldn't even bother with just by looking at him. Shouldn't you at least give her a chance to prove that she deeply cares for him?"

Mystique was quiet for a long while, before she spoke again, "Fine. I'll give Ms Grey a chance, but if she breaks his heart, then I'm breaking her skull!"

"Fair enough. Just so long as you giver her a chance."


	18. Unexpected Visitors

Chapter 18

Unexpected Visitors

For the next few weeks everyone was doing what they could to get their minds off of Todd's uncertain future.

Todd however had the hardest time. Try as he might, he couldn't really keep a positive mind about the situation as the others did. He would work longer hours and tinker around with electronics just to keep himself busy. When he had nothing to do, he would sit away from the others and sulk.

Mystique and Freddy didn't like it, but they gave him his space.

Jean would have liked to help Todd with his problems, but the X-Men had been calling her to do missions more and more. Which was putting a bit of a strain on her relationship with Freddy.

On the fourth week, Jean called again to cancel her and Freddy's date plans.

"I'm sorry, Freddy. The Professor is sending us on another mission again."

"Again?" he could not hide the dissapointment in his voice, "How many more missions do you have to do?"

"I don't know. The Brotherhood and the Acolytes seem to be attacking more than usual and-"

"And you have to fight them to protect humanity." he sighed miserbley and rubbed the back of his neck, "I know. I know."

"I'm really sorry, Freddy. Do you think we can take another rain check?"

"Yeah. Sure."

"Thank you. I have to go, they're calling for me."

"Yeah. Okay. Later, Jean."

"Bye, Freddy."

After he hung up the phone, he growled with frustration, and hit the wall.

"Dammit!"

"Jean not comin' over again, yo?" asked Todd, who was playing a gameboy at the foot of the stairs.

"Yeah." Freddy pulled his fist out of the wall and pressed his back against it, "Another stupid mission to stop the 'evil mutants' from destroying humanity. This freakin' sucks! I finally get the girl of my dreams and I hardly get to spend any time with her."

"That's the life of being an X-Man I guess." Todd paused for a moment to focus on a boss battle before continuing, "Anyways, yo. You ain't the only one hurtin' from all this. Jean's gotta be pullin' her hair out trying not to scream at cue ball and the others' for not givin' her a day off from all this battle stuff. I think even if the rolls were reversed and you were still with the Brotherhood and she wasn't with the X-Men, it'd all be the same."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." he ran his hand through his hair and moved closer to Todd, leaning against the stair banister, "What level you on?"

"The final level. Havin' a hard time beatin' the main boss, yo." he could feel Freddy's eyes practically burning a hole through him, "Will ya quit starin' at me and tell me what you really wanna know, Freddy? It's really startin' to bug me."

"I'm just worried about you, Todd. That's all."

"Worried? Why?"

"You've been really distant these past couple of weeks. I know why, but it's just kinda..."

"Kinda what?" Todd asked, not willing to pull his attention away from the video game.

"Kinda getting old. You're trip out to your dad's place ain't until this summer and your actin' like it's tomorrow."

Todd sighed and shook his head, "I don't want to get into this right now, man. Let's just drop the subject."

"I've held off on bringing up the subject for the past four weeks. I think that it's time for you to hear what I have to say." Todd ignored him, he was focusing harder on his game, which made Freddy angry, and he took the game away from him. "Dammit, Todd! Quit shutting me out and talk to me!"

"Just leave me alone, yo!" he pushed himself up and started heading up the stairs.

Freddy grabbed his arm and held him in place, "It ain't healthy just keepin' it all in like this, Todd. Come on. Talk to me. Mystique and I are really worried about you. Hell! Even Jean and Ireane are worried about you."

Todd jerked his arm out of Freddy's grasp and spun around to yell at him, "Then stop worrying about me! I'm fine! I ain't gonna kill myself like my birth mom did, so just leave me alone."

"I didn't mean it like that, buddy. I just-"

But Todd didn't give Freddy the chance to finish, he stormed up stairs, slammed his bedroom door, and locked it. He was very frustrated with the feelings twisted inside of him. On one hand he wanted to be left alone and to find an escape from this reality. But on the other hand, he didn't want to be alone, he wanted to let his friends' help him, and he wanted them to tell him it will all be okay.

Freddy stood at the foot of the stairs, staring upwards where Todd dissapeared from his view. He was debating on whether or not to go after his best friend or to simply give him his space. His answer soon came when he heard rapid knocking on the front door and the sounds of Lance's muffled voice.

"Freddy! Freddy! Open the door, man!"

"I'm coming. Just gimme a sec." he called back.

"Come on, man, hurry!"

Just as soon as Freddy opened the door, Lance and Kitty both came rushing in, "Whoa! Where's the fire, man?"

"Close the door! Close the door!" Lance shrieked in a very high pitched voice.

"What?" Freddy started to look out the door to see what put Lance in such a state.

"CLOSE THE FUCKIN' DOOR!" but Lance slammed the door, and locked it before he could get a chance.

"Whoa!" Freddy was baffled. He looked from Lance to Kitty, who looked just as scared as him, "You guys, mind explainin' to me exactly what the hell is goin' on? And why do you two look like you're about to pee your pants?" his question was soon answered by the familiar sounds of growling and roaring about 10 feet from his door.

"ALVERS! YOU GET YOUR SCRAWNY NECK OUT HERE NOW!" roared the fearsom Logan, "DON'T MAKE ME COME IN AFTER YOU!"

"What the-" Freddy peeked through the curtain of the side window. Logan was practically foaming at the mouth. He turned back to the others, his eye brow arched, "What's goin' on, Lance? What you do to make him madder than what he normally is?"

Both Lance and Kitty's eyes dropped to the floor, they stepped closer to each other, and held one another with sorrowful looks on their faces.

"Come on, guys! I need to know before that lunitic tries to tare my house down just to get to ya."

Lance looked up, his expression was grim, and his eyes were filled with mixed emotions, "Logan walked in on me and Kitty in her room this morning and saw her holding a pregnancy test."

"Oh, no." Freddy's face went pale.

"The test... Is positive."

"And now we're, like, gonna positively die." Kitty whimpered into his chest.

Lance held Kitty tightly to him, "I'm sorry that I got Logan mad at you, Kitty." he kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back, "I'm gonna go out there and face the music. If I somehow survive, I promise I'm going to do whatever I can to take care of you and our baby."

"Oh, Lance!" she began sobbing and held on tighter, so that he wouldn't go, "Please, don't go out there! I don't want to you to die!"

Everyone jumped as they heard a loud THUD on the front door.

"TIMES UP, ALVERS! I'M COMIN' IN AFTER YER ASS!"

"Oh, god..." Lance's face went ghastly pale, every instict told him to run away and hide, but his love for Kitty told him to stand firm and do whatever it takes to protect the mother of his unborn child. It took all of his courage to pull away from her and to start walking towards the door, but his courage began to fail him when he heard another one of Logan's kicks, "I'm going to die..."

Just then Freddy stepped in front of him and pushed him back towards Kitty, "Nobodies gonna die today." Freddy then opened the door and caught Logan's foot in mid-air just as he was about to attmept a third kick. Freddy held him upside down and raised him to where he could yell at the shorter man in the face, "Listen here, asshole! I don't care how pissed off you are at my friends, but that don't give you any right to destroy my house!"

"Put me down, Blob, or else I might take my aggressions out on you."

"Go ahead and try. Once I'm done mopping the floor with you, I'll have your ass thrown in jail for tresspassing on my property, attempting to break into my house, and for aggrivated assult."

"Ha! As if the authorities would take your side."

"Oh, they will. Especially since you're an adult threatening the lives of 3 teenagers, one of whom is pregnant, and putting a life of a toddler at risk."

"Dah Dah?" called Tiffany, who was rubbing her eyes from up top of the stairs.

"Dammit! Do you know how long it took me to get her to take a nap?" Freddy turned towards the stairs, hiding Logan's upside down body behind his back, "Hey, sweetie, did we wake you up?"

"Mm hmm"

"I'm sorry, kiddo. Why don't ya go back to sleep?"

"I wan' you." she held out her arms for him to come get her.

"Daddy's kinda busy right now. Would you like Auntie Kitty instead?" Tiffany looked at Kitty and nodded.

Kitty mouthed 'thank you' to Freddy, as she decended the stairs towards the little girl, and took her to her room. Once the door was closed, Freddy pulled Logan out from behind him, and continued to yell at him in an angry whisper, "If you so much as wake my kid up one more time and make her cry I'm gonna pound you into dust!" he then dropped Logan on his head and stepped in between him and Lance as he struggled to get back up, "Now you're gonna calm down and we're all gonna talk like civilized adults. Alright? No yelling. No fighting. And no girly screaming." he turned to eye Lance on the last part.

"Why are you looking at me? I don't scream like a girl?" Logan popped out his claws and Lance squealed.

Freddy grabbed Logan's wrist and glared from him to Lance, "You were sayin'?"

"Okay. You win."

Freddy released Logan's hand and motioned for them all to head to the living room. Logan sat in the arm chair, while Lance and Freddy sat on the couch. Freddy put himself in between the two again in case Logan went nuts. Freddy leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees, and rubbed his hands nervously together. He looked over at Lance who looked as though he was about to faint, then he looked over at Logan who was readdy to kill anything and anyone just to get to the boy.

Freddy sighed, "Who wants to start first?" neither of the men said anything, "Okay... Um. Logan?"

"What?" he snarled.

"I know why you're mad and all, but do ya think you can be not entirely mad about this? I mean, Kitty and Lance do love each other after all."

He glared at Freddy and growled, "Kitty is 15 and is still in school! Her parents left her in our care in hopes that she can make something of herself. Not to get herself pregnant by an 18 year old member of the Brotherhood, who the X-Men have been fighting since the beginning!"

"Come on. It ain't that bad. It just means, you're gonna have another lil' X-Man runnin' around the house and stuff."

"We ain't a day care center, bub. The way the X-Men work to save humanity round the clock, none O' us gots time for that kind O' stuff. Besides, the kid won't only be an X-Man, but it'll be part Brotherhood too. Who's to say that this rock head's not gonna want to take the kid away from Kitty, when she ain't lookin', and raise it do be just as evil as he is?"

Lance stood up, his face was contorted with anger, and he held a very serious look in his eyes, "Alright, old man! I've had just about enough you bad mouthing me like I wasn't here!"

"Lance, come on man, sit back down. No need to get angry-"

"Like hell I am!" he stomped over to Logan, who stood up to meet his gaze. Freddy tried to get in between the two, but Lance stopped him, "Don't worry, Fred. I ain't gonna mess up your house for this jackass. Listen here and listen good, old man. I know I'm a fuck up in life, but that doesn't mean I do fucked up things all the time. Yeah, getting Kitty pregnant wasn't the brightest idea, but it happened, and we can't take that back. But I don't regret. I love Kitty, more than you'll ever know. She's my heart and my soul, man. I'll do anything for her and whatever it takes just to make her happy." he took a deep breath to let himself calm down a bit, "I want to marry her, Logan, and I want to raise the baby with her."

"The hell you will, punk." he popped out his claws and held them dangerously close to the boy's throat, "I ain't lettin' no stinkin' Brotherhood punk like you ruin that girl's life more than you already have."

"Then I'll quit the Brotherhood."

"You ain't even got a job! How the hell are you-"

"I'll get one." Lance said with much determination in his voice, "Kitty will not go hungry and neither will the baby. I'll figure something out."

"Hmph" Logan sized up the boy, still not happy with the present situation, "That still gonna be good enough."

"I'm not going to supporting you, old man. I'm gonna be supporting my family."

"That maybe. But I ain't the only one you're gonna have to go through to prove that to. The Professor and Kitty's parent's still have a say in all of this. The Professor may be more understanding, but Kitty's parents won't. They are Jews who are highly set in they ways."

"Fine. I'll do whatever it takes to prove to all of you that I can take care of Kitty."

"And if we ain't convinced?"

"It's not going to stop me from how I feel about Kitty and our baby."

"Fair enough." he pulled back his claws and walked towards the stairs, he raised his hand to hollar.

"Do it and I swear to God I'll polverize you." Freddy barked.

Logan snarled, but kept his cool, "Fine. Tell, half pint, to come home whenever she's ready. It ain't like she can't come home."

"I'll tell her."

Just as soon as Logan opened the door to leave, Jean stumbled in.

"Logan!" she exclaimed, then looked behind at the others, "Oh, good. You didn't kill Lance."

"I wouldn't exactly call that a good thing, Darlin'." he turned slightly to glare at Lance, "What are ya doin' here anyways? I thought the Professor had put on a mission with Scott and Kurt."

"The Professor that I'd do more good here than on the mission. But it looks as though you guys worked everything out."

"For now at least, but lover boy over still has to go through the Professor and Kitty's parents. You gonna come back home later tonight?"

She shook her head, "I want to stay over here for a while."

"How long of a while?"

"Long enough to feel that I've made up for the numberous of date cancelations that I had to do because of all these stupid missions." she said with a great deal of irratation, "Unlike Kitty, Logan. I'm no longer a minor and I don't have a curfew."

"No need for the attitude, Red."

"I'm sorry." her eyes softened, "I'm just frustrated with trying to trying to live two different lives."

"I know, Darlin'." he put his arm around her and gave her a reassuring squeeze, "Believe me, I know where yer comin' from on that one. I'll tell the Prof. to give ya some time off."

"Thanks, Logan."

"Yer welcome. I'll see ya whenever you feel up to doin' missions again." with that he left and went back home.

Jean closed the door behind her and walked over to the guys, "Hey. You guys doin' okay, concidering?"

"Yeah." replied Lance, "Considering. I'm gonna go check on Kitty and see how she's doing."

"Okay, buddy. You do know that you're more than welcome to stay here for as long as ya want, right?"

"Yeah, Freddy. I know. Thanks, man."

"I really hope things work out for you and Kitty. What are you gonna do if her parents say no?"

"I dunno." Lance's face was grim and pale, "I just hope that they don't do something stupid like make her get an abortion."

"I doubt they will, Lance." said Jean, "They are highly religious after all."

"That don't mean nothing, Jean. Even religious people aren't against doing whatever to takes to hide their families dirty little secrets."

"Hey, you don't know that for sure, man. Jean might actually be right. The worst that they could do is take the baby away and put it up for adoption."

"If that's the case... Then I'm gonna be the first one in line at the adoption center." he then turned and dissapeared up the stairs.

Jean and Freddy were alone at the foot of the stairs and Jean wasted no time in embracing her boyfriend as tightly as she could. "

"I've missed you, Freddy."

"I've missed you too, Jean." he hugged her back, not wanting to let her go.

"I'm sorry that-"

Freddy didn't let her finish her sentence, he silenced her by kissing her passionately, when he finally broke the kiss, he said, "Don't worry about it, babe. I understand. I'm just happy that I finally have you to myself for a little while at least." she gripped the front of his overhalls tightly and burried her face into his chest. He stroked her hair and lifted her chin so that her eyes could meet his, "Hey. It's alright. I know that being an X-Man is important to you. Just because we've had to cancel a few of our dates don't mean I'm gonna give up on us just like that. Next to my daughter, you're the next best thing that this life has given me. I'm not gonna be selfish and leave you. Alright?" he kissed her again, "Come on, let's go out and make up for some of those canceled dates."

"Thank you, Freddy."

"For what?"

"For being exactly what I needed and for being so understanding."

"You'd do the same for me if the tables were turned the other way around."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Oh, it's something that a little toad told me once."

"What?"

"Ha Ha Nevermind. Come on. Let's go."


	19. Tender Moments

Chapter 19

Tender Moments

Lance quietly went into Tiffany's bedroom, where he found Kitty sitting in the rocking chair rocking Tiffany quietly, and Tiffany fast asleep. He watched the two for a long while. Looking at them, the way Kitty held Tiffany, and how the little toddler clung to her made him smile. He couldn't help but imagine a scene where Kitty and him were married and had 3 children, who were running around happily, and they themselves were happy as well.

Kitty felt his presence and she looked up. She still held a sad expression in her eyes, but he could tell that she was a little more relaxed than before. She held out a hand and reached for her him, beckoning him to come to her. He complied and quietly walked over to her, taking her hand into his. She grasped it, pressed his hand to her lips, and held it to her cheek.

He knelt down by her side and caressed her other cheek, "Are you okay, Kitty?"

She nodded her head, "Yeah... Is Logan gone?"

"Yeah. He just left not too long ago. Jean is here too. You want me to go get her for ya?"

She shook her head, "No. Let her be. I'm pretty sure she really wants to be with Freddy right now. I can talk to her anytime I want when we're at the mansion."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive." she gave him a reassuring smile and pulled him closer to her, "And like her... I just want to be with my boyfriend right now."

"Even though I got you pregnant and possible all of your friends and family mad at you right now?"

"Yes. Lance... I know that you didn't mean to get me pregnant and neither did I, but it happened, and I'm not entirely upset about it. In a way... I'm actually happy, because it means that I get to be a mom just like mine, and not only that, but I get to share a life with the man that I truly love. I know it's weird, but settling down, living a normal life, and having a family to raise and love has always been something I've always wanted."

"What about your dreams? You know of being an X-Men or even getting your dream job and full filling your goals? I don't want you to feel regret for abandoning your dreams just because of me and the baby."

"The job I dream of doing, I can easily do from a computer at home, as for the X-Men part... Well, I'd love to keep doing it, but I don't like want to keep doing it for the rest of my life. I'd love to keep fighting for a world that the Professor dreams of, but even I know I can do only so much. Besides, there's going to be time, when I get too old or possibley hurt to the point where I can't help anymore. The X-Men will always keep recruiting new and younger mutants to fight for the Professor's dreams. They'll be alright without me. Besides..." she looked at Tiffany, smiled, then looked back into eyes of the man she loves, "If I stay an X-Men, I won't have anytime for my family."

Lance searched her eyes, seeing that she was telling him the truth, he kissed her forhead, and pressed his against hers, "You sure you want give up all that up for me?"

"Yes. I'm possitive."

"Then I'll give up my life as a member of the Brotherhood. Living a life of crime ain't worth the risk of losing the closest thing I have to a family."

"Oh, Lance. You don't have to-"

"But I do, Kitty. Even you know it's true." he took the hand that was holding his and clasped it in both of his, "I love you, Kitty Pryde, and I'd do anything to make you happy. I've seen how much it hurts you when we have to fight on the battle field and whenever I get hurt for fighting for Magneto's cause. I don't want to put you through that pain anymore."

"But what about Mystique and Magneto? Won't they stop you from leaving?"

"Mystique has already told us that if we want to leave the Brotherhood we can. She won't stop us. If Magneto has anything to say about it, then he'll have to go through Mystique first."

"Like, wow! Really?"

"Yeah." he kissed her hand and held it to his chest, "Mystique has changed believe it or not. We all have. And I promise you I'll everything that I can to convince your parents the Professor that I have changed for the good and that I will take care of you and our baby."

"It's not going to be easy, Lance."

"I'm not expecting it to be. But I'm going to try. And if they won't allow it and take the baby away when it's born, then I'll adopted it right away, and bring it over everyday just so it can know that it still has a mother wants it and loves it."

"Oh, Lance!" tears rolled down her cheeks as he said these words, "Thank you."

He scooted closer to her and held her protectively, "You won't be alone in this, Kitty. I promise you that I'll be with you every step of the way, until the very end."

In the room next to them, Todd sat on his bed, and listened to every word.

He looked down at a recent photo that was taken of him and his friends and one of him and Mystique. He sighed miserably, running his hand through his shaggy hair, and groaned, "Man! Now I feel like a putz! Here I am feelin' all sorry for myself when some of my friends are havin' it worse than me." he looked at the pictures a little longer, "Compared to them... I have it easy. All's I gotta do is spend time with the old fart for a summer and hope that he's kind enough to let me live where I wanna live. But them... Damn. What they're goin' through just ain't fair, yo." he got up, unlocked his bedroom door, and went downstairs to look for Freddy, but he saw that Freddy and Jean were already driving away to go somewhere, "Dammit... Aw, well. At least the big lug finally gets to spend time with his girl." he then pulled out his cell phone and called Mystique, "Hey, mom? Um... You wanna hang out today or somethin'? Yeah, I'm alright. I just did a lot of thinkin' is all. So... Can we you know... Spend some time together? Really? Great! Okay, I'll meet ya in a little bit."

He left the house and walked down to the little cafe that he knew what Mystique's favorite place to get coffee and cake. By the time he got there, she was already sitting at their usual table, and had ordered him his favorite milkshake.

"Hello, son." she stood up, when she saw him, and hugged him like she hadn't seen him in years.

"Hey, mom." he hugged her back, "How ya've been?"

"Same old, same old I suppose." she gently pulled away from him and motioned for him to take a seat, "Things have been a little rocky with the Brotherhood and Magneto is raising hell about our losing streak as usual. So nothing really major has happened."

"Oh? So I guess you haven't heard the news, huh?"

"Heard what news, dear?"

"Um... Well..." Todd told her about the all the reccuss he had heard from within his room and what he heard Lance telling Kitty in the next room. When he was done, he paused for a long moment, waiting to hear what Mystique had to say. He became nervous when he she said nothing and he couldn't tell if she was mad or glad or anything, "Um... Mom? Please, say something."

Mystique simply stared at her son, absorbing everything that he told her in, and quietly sipped her coffee for 3 minutes before speaking, "Well... I should have seen something like this coming. I had a feeling that the relationship between Lance and Kitty were becoming more" she cleared her throat, "intimate, but I made the decision to let Lance be an adult, and trusted him to make an adult decision..."

"Mom? Are you gonna be mad at him?"

"I'm trying not be right now, son."

"Oh... Um... Please, don't be mad at him? Logan already is and nearly killed him when he came to the house."

"Logan, attacked Lance at your house?"

"Yeah, but Freddy stopped him and from the sounds of it they all talked it out. But Logan's still pretty furious."

"Alright then, I won't be mad at Lance."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'll be mad at Logan for trying to hurt a boy who is in my care. I'll simply be set on being dissapointed in Lance for the time being."

"But why? Why is it so hard for all adults to understand that Kitty and Lance are inlove?"

Mystique raised her hand to urge him to calm down, "I know that to you and your friends it's a simple thing, but in reality it's not. Yes, Lance and Kitty may be truly, truly in love, but that does not change the matter that Lance is 18 and Kitty is 15 and is still in school. By technicality, Kitty's parent's can have Lance arrested and thrown into jail for satchitory rape."

"But he didn't rape her!"

"I know, son, but her parents' aren't going to see it that way. Any parent who puts a lot of love into their child and wants the best for them will more than likely be very protective. I have seen Kitty's file and I can tell you this, Lance will more than likely have a fight on his hands. I can help him, but it may cost him the ability to see Kitty."

"But why? I don't get it mom. If her parents want the best for her, then why would they stop her from seein' Lance? They love each other. Hell he's-"

"Langauge, Todd."

"Hrgh! Yes, ma'am. But Lance is willing to quit the Brotherhood and get a job and everything just to be Kitty and his baby!"

Mystique sighed and thought long and hard how to put what she would say next into words that he would accept, "Son? Please, try and hear what I'm trying to tell you. The reason why parents' sometimes do such things is because they are scared. Scared for their children, whom they have put so much time, effort, and love into. We know the dangers out in the world and we want very much to protect you all from it. If we could, we would keep as the innocent little children, whose only worry would be when they would get to play the next day. Kitty's parents' are good people, who have done everything that they thought possible to keep their daughter safe. They want her to have bright future and to make something of herself. They've met Lance before, son. He nearly killed them and he nearly killed their daughter the first day Kitty used her powers at her old school. Now after all this time... Kitty has fallen in love with her would be murderer and is now carrying his child. Not only that, but Lance has lost his job as a machanic and has not had a steady job since. Can you honestly tell me now that you still don't understand why Kitty's parents' and everyone else are upset about all of this?"

Todd sighed and shook his head, "No."

Mystique reached out and touched her son's face, "I care for Lance, Todd. I truly do. I can do many things to help him and do anything to protect him, like would do for you. But... This is something that I might not be able to help him with."

"It's just so unfair, mom..."

"I know, honey." she motioned for him to come sit by her, when he did, she pulled him close, and held him, "You care for Lance as though he were your big brother. I can see why you would take his side. When you're young, you see things through clear eyes. You don't see black or white or all the grays that are in the world. But when you're as old as me, you see the world as dark scarey place, and that everything is out to get you."

"Well if that's the case, then I don't wanna grow old!"

Mystique chuckled and kissed the top of his head, "You will, dear. It's the fact of life. But want to know the secret of getting passed all that?"

"Wazzat, yo?"

"You don't let the world scare. You embrace life and you love every moment of it like it was your last. Even though your body gets old, if you've lived a happy and good life, you can always stay young at heart."

"Oh... So? When ya gonna stop being dissapointed in Lance?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe after I talk to him later, maybe a couple days later, or for a while even. But it's not going to stop me from caring about him."

"Good." Todd laid his head on her chest and listened to her soft rhythematic heart beats, "Mom?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what, dear?"

"For how I've been acting these past few weeks. I've been a real jerk to you guys."

"What brought all this on, Todd?"

"After hearing Lance and Kitty's conversation and seein' how much being part of the X-Men has put a strain on Jean and Freddy's relationship... It's made me realize that there's other people out there who have bigger problems than me. I don't want to be sulkin' anymore and bein' resentful all because I have to spend one summer with my old man, when in truth I can spend nearly every day until then with you guys."

"Well, that's very grown up of you to say, Todd." she smiled.

"And, mom?"

"Yes?"

"I love you. I know I haven't really shown it to ya for a while like should have and I'm sorry."

"You don't have to appologize for that, dear. I've always known that you love me, even when you get angry at me. And I'll always love you."

"Even when you're mad at me?"

"Yes. Even when I get mad at you. You are my son, Todd. Nothing will ever change how I feel about you."

They hugged eachother for a long time, so long that Todd's milkshake had completely melted, so Mystique had to order him another one.


	20. A Time to Celebrate and A Time to Prepar

Chapter 20

A Time to Celebrate and A Time to Prepare

Later that night, everyone came back to Freddy's house for dinner. Despite all of the tension and the ruckus that had happened today, the atmosphere was surprisingly calm, and happy. Everyone was particularly happy because Freddy had decided to cook on of his famous turkey dinners with dressing, and a variety of side dishes that everyone liked.

Before they all dug in, Freddy stood up, and spoke, "I just want to say something to everybody that is here tonight. I know it's been a long while since we've gotten together like this and had something to celebrate. First of all..." he looked over at Kitty and Lance, "I wanna congratulate Kitty and Lance on their future child. I know that there are gonna be some others' who ain't gonna be as happy about the situation, but I wanna let ya know that I'm happy for the two of ya, and that your kid couldn't have better parents to look forward to."

Kitty and Lance moved closer together, they smiled at their friend, and said in unison, "Thank you."

Freddy continued, this time looking at Todd, "Todd. I know you've been through a lot ever since you been with the Brotherhood and after you left them. Many people would wonder why someone like you would keep goin' after all of the crap life's put ya though, but all of us here know better. You may get down in the dumps for a long period of time, but you always somehow manage to pull yourself out, and come back as the Todd we all know and love." Freddy put his hand on Todd's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, "Just next time... Please, don't shut us out, okay? We all love you and care about you. Whatever you're goin' through, you don't have to go through alone. Okay, buddy?"

Todd smiled up at his friend and nodded, "You got it, big guy."

Freddy smiled back and patted his Todd's shoulder before removing his hand, then he looked over at Mystique, "Mystique, thank you for being a big part in our lives. If it weren't for you, none of us would be here together right now."

"Please, Freddrick." she tried hard not to blush, "There is no thanks needed. I after did bring you boys to the Brotherhood for corrupted purposes-"

"And you released us with pure intentions." he looked at her with gentle eyes, "People can change, Mystique, and you are definately one of those who fit the bill. You went from being cold and cruel to kind and loving. That was definately proven, when you allowed me to keep my daughter and didn't turn me away for chosing to keep her. Not only that, but you've done so much more. You've become a great mom to Todd, given us a home to call our own, support, you've even offered the same support to our former comrads, and you've also given us a another chance at life. Thank you, Mystique.

"Thank you, Gamma!" Tiffany cooed, understanding that thanks was deserved in the direction of Mystique.

Mystique's heart melted and she forced herself not to cry infront of everyone, "Thank you, Fredrick, and thank you too, Tiffany."

Freddy then turned attention of the last person in the room. The red haired beauty whom he was deeply in love with. He took her hand into his and spoke, "Jean. If there is anyone else in this room who deserves just as big of a thank you as Mystique, that person would be you."

"Freddy, what-"

"Lemme finish, please?" he put his other hand on top of hers, cupping it in his two massive hands, "I've never had any luck with girls and the fact that you started out being nice to me took my breath away. You are like a precious gem that I want to treasure always. No girl as beautiful as you has ever given me the time nor day just to spend time with me. To get to know me... But you did and that's why I like ya so much."

"Freddy." Jean's eyes beamed up at him with awe. Hearing such sweet thing come out of his mouth was like King Arther finding the Holy Grail.

"You've been my friend and now you're my girlfriend. Thank you for being with me and giving me a second chance."

He was about to pick up his glass to announce a toast, when Tiffany grabbed ahold of his hand and pointed to herself, "Me now, Dah Dah! Me now."

"Oh, yeah!" he smiled widely and picked his little girl up, tossing her in the air, and catching her, "I almost forgot about the most important person in this room. My favorite little angel. Thank you, most of all, for comin' into my life. If ya hadn't come at all, I would have never know how great it would be to be a daddy." he hugged her in his massive arms and she hugged back. "It's because of you, that daddy decided to turn good."

"Dad Dah" she nuzzled her head under his chin and giggled, making everyone in the room go "awwww".

He chuckled and picked up his glass, "I know it's corny, but how about a toast? To everyone's happiness and good health."

They all raised their glasses and said in unison, "To happiness and good health." and then they clinked their glasses together.

The next day, Mystique pulled Lance aside and spoke to him in private, while everyone was eating breakfast.

"Lance, I need to talk to you."

"Is something wrong, Mystique?"

"I'm concerned about your situation with Kitty. I know that you're a big boy now and can take care of your own problems, but I just can't help but worry. Especially now that her parents are going to be involved very soon."

"I know, Mystique. I just don't know what to really do right now. Epecially since now I don't have a job and the fact that I nearly killed Kitty and her parents when we first met doesn't help either."

"Speaking of the matter. What did happen to your job as a mechanic? I thought that that was going good for you."

"I kinda got fired when I lost it a while back?"

"Lost it? Do you mean when you had that break down a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah. But, I'm okay now. I've moved on."

"Well, I'm certianly glad to hear that. So what are your plans now to prepare for the upcoming war?"

"War?"

"Yes, Lance. The war between you and Kitty's parents."

"I-I dont know. But I'll think of something. I just don't know what right now."

Mystique studied Lance for a while, leaving an aquard silence between the two, then she spoke again, "Well, I think the first order of business is for you to quit the Brotherhood and find a new job."

"What?" Lance's head shot up and he blinked in disbelief.

"If this matter goes to court and it probably will, they will more than likely do a background check on you, and if they find out that you're still with the Brotherhood... They will tare you to peices and you will lose more than just Kitty, but probably your freedom."

Lance gulped, "I-I didn't think about that."

"I figured as much."

"So I quit the Brotherhood. Where do I go then? I don't have any money for a place of my own."

"You don't need to worry about that. I'll take care of everything."

"W-What? No! I don't want-"

"You have no say in the matter, Lance. If you want to keep your freedom and have a chance at happiness with Kitty and your baby, then you must do as I say, and let me help you."

Lance sighed in defeat, "Fine... I'll go over to the boarding house and pack my things."

"Take your time. I need to make the proper preparations for your big move. And while you're out, start looking for a new job. A full-time one this time."

"Yes, ma'am." he grabbed his wallet and keys, and left the house.

Mystique watched the boy drive off, before pulling out her cell phone, and calling the reality place that she went through to get Freddy's house.


	21. This Isn't GoodBye

Chapter 21

This Isn't Good-Bye

**Author's Note**: Sorry these stories are so short, everyone. I'm trying not to burn myself out and create another writers block. I do hope that you all still enjoy reading this. I promise there will be more chapters to come. And I am gonna make sure that I see this story all the way to the end. ;) Enjoy the latest chapter and please give me some feed back. So that it'll help encourage me to write more chapters' quicker. lolz

Lance went back to the Brotherhood Bording house to collect his things. As he was packing, Pietro happened to be walking by.

"Lance?" Pietro stopped and looked into his room, "What are you doing? You going on a trip or something?"

"You can sorta say that." Lance said bitterly under his breath, shoving another load of his clothes into his back pack.

Pietro zipped up to him and sat down on his bed, "Something wrong, man? You don't look so good?" Lance didn't say anything. Pietro tried again, "Lance?"

Lance heaved a heavy sigh, stopped what he was doing, and looked at the boy, whom he been comrads with for a long time. "I'm quitting the Brotherhood."

"WHAT? You too? God dammit! That leave only me and my sister. How the hell are we suppose to fight the X-Men with just two fucking members!"

"Pietro... It doesn't matter whether or not you and your sister are the only two Brotherhood Members left. Magneto never had any intention of letting the Brotherhood join the ranks of the acolytes. Only you and your sister have that chance. The rest of us were nothing more than grunts and were expendable in his eyes."

"That's not true, Lance! It's not-"

"Pietro." Lance stared into the young boy's ice blue eyes with gentle brown eyes, "Pietro... You know I'm right."

Pietro turned his head away and closed his eyes in anger, "Yeah... But I don't like it!"

"I know, man. I know." He reached out and touched Pietro's shoulder, "I'm sorry, things have turned out to be this way."

"So am I." he turned his head back to look at him, "Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know. I'll probably stay over at Freddy's house for a while, until I can get a job again, and earn enough to get a place of my own."

"Okay. Sounds like a plan. But... But why quit now all of the sudden? You've been with the Brotherhood for so long. Why now?"

"Because... It's no longer my life I have to fight for."

"Huh? Could you be more specific?"

"Kitty and I are going to have a baby and I need to prove to her parents how serious I am about wanting too keep her and our child together. That includes cutting ties with the Brotherhood."

"I understand." Pietro lowered his head and stared at the floor, "I won't try to stop you. If anyone deserves a chance at happiniess... It's you."

"Thank you, Pietro."

Pietro stood up, dusted his hands off onto his pants, and held out his hand, "Well... Good luck to you."

Lance chuckled and pulled the silver haired boy into a warm hug, "This isn't good-bye, you goof ball. We're still gonna be friends. Just like Fred and Todd. Just... We're no longer gonna be teammates." he hugged him for a bit longer before pulling away from him, "You may not believe it, but Mystique really will help you if you and Wanda ever decide to leave the Brotherhood. She's changed man. I know you don't want to hear it, but she has. She's changed for the good."

"Yeah right. And my old man wants to make peace with humans."

"Just give her a chance, man. That's all I ask."

"Whatever." he looked over at Lance's bag and sighed, "Do you need any help packing?"

"Naw. I pretty much got this taken care of. I guess it's a good thing that I never had that many belongings, huh?"

"I guess. Well... Let me know when you're ready to leave. I'm sure Wanda would like to say good-bye to you too."

"Pietro. I told you that this isn't good-"

"I know. I know. Just... Well... You know what I mean!"

Lance smirked, "Yeah. I guess I do."

About an hour and a half went by when Lance was finished and said his good-bye's to Pietro and Wanda. He dropped off his belongings at Freddy's house, then went back out to start his job hunt. He went back to his old job and asked the boss if he could come back full time. After giving him a lengthy apology and explaining to him why he had broken down, his former boss rehired him, under the condition that Lance would not pull a stunt like that again. Lance's heart became lighter with the good news and immediately went to work with a new vigor. He world all day, until it was tim to close down the shop, then he went back to Freddy's house. Where Mystique was there to greet him as he came in through the front door.

"Mystique? You're still here?" he asked in a puzzled voice, "I thought you'd be out doing important things."

"I was and I finished them early. I wanted to be here when you got home to give you this." she handed him a paper and watched him as he read over it. Smirking as she saw his jaw drop and was unable to utter any words.

"What's goin' on, yo?" asked Todd, who had perched himself on the stair way banister, "Lance, if you keep holdin' your mouth open like that, then all the flies will be catchin' all the flies instead of me." Lance was still unable to speak, so Todd turned his attention to his mother, "What's wrong him, mom?"

"Oh, nothing really. He's just having a difficult time comprehending that he is the a proud owner of a brand new house that has been paid in full."

"What? Really? Wow!" Todd hopped down from the banister and right next to Lance, reading the paper his friend was holding, "Whoa! The address on this thing says that the house you own is the one right next to ours, yo! We're gonna be neighbors!"

Finally Lance found his voice, "H-H-How are you able to afford all of this? You not only bought and paid for Fred's house, but now you've done the same for me. Not to sound ungrateful, but can you really afford spend your money like this?"

"How I spend my money is none of your concern, Lance. I'll spend it however way I see fit. As I told all of you, I will help you, and look after you even after you quit the Brotherhood. You are my children and I want to make sure that you have a chance at a decent life. Lord knows how the economies gone to hell these days that it's diffucult for anybody to get anywhere. And don't you dare pay me back a single cent or else I will no longer acknowledge your exsistance. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now how did the job hunting go?"

"I was able to get my old job back and it's full time too."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that." she smiled and sighed, "Well, I'd love to stay longer, but I have a date tonight." she picked up her purse and keys and walked to the front door.

"A date?" Lance asked, "Who's the lucky person?"

"Are you even allowed to day at your age?"

She turned and glared down her son, "Do I need to take you back into Freddrick's study to teach you a thing called manners?"

Todd jumped back, shaking his head vigorously, and protecting his rear end with his hands, "No, ma'am!"

"That's better." she turned her head back to Lance, "Call me if things start heating up with your situation with Kitty. I'll try my best to help you, Lance. I promise."

"Thank you, Mystique."

"Good-night, boys." she waved at Lance and gave Todd a kiss on the cheek, then she dissapeared out the door.

Todd hopped back over to Lance, practically jumping up and down for joy, "Man O man! I can't believe we're gonna be neighbors! this is gonna be great! Now I can come over and ask if I can borrow a cup of sugar. Ha Ha!"

Lance rolled his eyes and ruffed Todd's hair, "You're such a goof ball, ya know that Todd?"


End file.
